NOTICE:  Return  or  renew  all  Library  Materialsl  The  Minimum  Fee  for 
each  Lost  Book  is  $50.00. 


The  person  charging  this  material  is  responsible  for 
its  return  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  withdrawn 
on  or  before  the  Latest  Date  stamped  below. 

Theft,  mutilation,  and  underlining  of  books  are  reasons  for  discipli- 
nary action  and  may  result  in  dismissal  from  the  University. 
To  renew  call  Telephone  Center,  333-8400 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS   LIBRARY  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


L161— O-1096 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/lifevoyagesofchr03irvi_0 


♦ 


fRVING'S  COLUMBUS. 

VOLUME  III. 


PEOPLE'S  EDITION. 


F  .   F  U  T  N 


THE 


LIFE  AND  VOYAGES 


OP 


JSTOPHER  COLUMBUS; 


TO  WHICH  ARE  ADDED  THOSE  OP 


HIS  OOMPAi^IOITS. 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 


Venient  annis 
Bsecula  seris,  quibus  Oceanus 
Vincula  rerum  laxet,  et  ingens 
Pateat  tfllu",  Tethysque  novos 
DetegaJ  orV  is,  nec  sit  terris 
Ultima  Tb  ile. 

Seneca  :  Jfcrfaa 


AUTH(  K'S  REVISED  EDITION 

VOL.  m. 


NEW  YORK 
G.  P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS 
27  AND  29  West  23d  Street 
1887 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Coni^ress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 
G.  P.  PuTNAjn  AND  Son, 
the  Clerk's  Ot5i«"e  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  Diatriot  cd 
New  York. 


^1  %  >  1^     CONTENTS.  . 

\%%^%       ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 

HIS  FIRSTVOYAGE,  IN  WHICH  HE  WAS  ACCOMPANIED  B"I 
AMERIGO  VESPUCCI. 

PAGl 

Chap.  I.  —  Some  Account  of  Ojeda  —  of  Juan  de  la 
Cosa  —  of  Amerigo  Vespucci. —  Preparations  for  the 
Voyage.  —  (A.  D.  1499.)   17 

Chap.  II.  —  Departure  from  Spain.  —  Arrival  on  the 

Coast  of  Paria.  —  Customs  of  the  Natives      .      .  23 

Chap.  III.  —  Coasting  of  Terra  Firma.  Military  Ex- 
pedition of  Ojeda  26 

Chap.  IV.  —  Discovery  of  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela.  — 
Transactions  there.  —  Ojeda  explores  the  Gulf. — 
Penetrates  tc  Maracaibo  29 

Chap.  V.  —  Prosecution  of  the  Voyage.  —  Return  to 

Spain  34 

PEDRO  A.  NINO  AND  CHRIS.  GUERRA. 
A,  D.  1499   37 

VICENTE  YANEZ  PINZON. 
A,  D.  1499    43 

DIEGO  DE  LEPE  AND  R.  DE  BASTIDES. 
k  D  150C  59 

ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 

SECOND  VOYAGE. 

A.  D.  1502    67 


367112 


CONTENTS, 


ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 

THIRD  VOYAGE. 

PlOl 

Chap.  I.  —  Ojeda  applies  for  a  Command.  — Has  a  Ri- 
val Candidate  in  Diego  de  Nicuesa.  —  His  Success 
(1509)   .  68 

Chap.  II.  —  Feud  between  the  Rival  Governors  Ojeda 

and  Nicuesa.  —  A  Challenge  71 

Chap.  III.  —  Exploits  and  Disasters  of  Ojeda  on  the 
Coast  of  Carthagena.  —  Fate  of  the  Veteran  Juan 
la  Cosa  78 

Chap.  IV.  —  Arrival  of  Nicuesa.  —  Vengeance  taken 

on  the  Indians  85 

Chap.  V.  —  Ojeda  founds  the  Colony  of  San  Sebastian. 

—  Beleaguered  by  the  Indians        ....  90 

Chap.  VI.  —  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  supposed  by  the  Savages 
to  have  a  charmed  Life.  —  Their  Experiment  to  try 
the  Fact   .........  93 

Chap.  VII.  —  Arrival  of  a  strange  Ship  at  San  Se- 
bastian  95 

Chap.  VIII. — Factions  in  the  Colony.  —  A  Conven- 
tion made  98 

Chap.  IX.  —  Disastrous  Voyage  of  Ojeda  in  the  Pirate 

Ship  100 

Chap.  X.  —  Toilsome  March  of  Ojeda  and  his  Com- 
panions through  the  Morasses  of  Cuba  .      .  102 

Chap.  XI.  —  Ojeda  performs  his  Vow  to  the  Virgin    .  106 

Chap.  XII.  — Arrival  of  Ojeda  at  Jamaica.  — His  Re- 
ception by  Juan  de  Esquibel    ....  108 

Chap.  XIII.  —  Arrival  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  at  San 

Domingo.  —  Conclusion  of  his  Story      .      .      •  111 

DIEGO  DE  NICUESA. 

Chap.  I.  —  Nicuesa  sails  to  the  Westward.  —  His  Ship- 
wreck and  subsequent  Disasters      ....  118 
Chap.  II.  —  Nicuesa  and  his  Men  on  a  desolate  Island  120 
Chap.  III.  —  Arrival  of  a  Boat.  —  Conduct  of  Lope  de 

Olano  122 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


PAGI 

Chap.  IV.  —  Nicuesa  rejoins  his  Crews  .      .      .      .  125 

Chap.  V.  —  Sufferings  of  Nicuesa  and  his  Men  o\l  the 

Coast  of  the  Isthmus  127 

Chap.  VI.  —  Expedition  of  the  Bachelor  Enciso  in 

Search  of  the  Seat  of  Government  of  Ojeda    .       .  131 

Chap.  VII.  —  The  Bachelor  hears  unwelcome  Tidings 

of  his  destined  Jurisdiction  136 

Chap.  VIII.  —  Crusade  of  the  Bachelor  Enciso  against 

the  Sepulctres  of  Zenu    .       .      .      .      .  .138 

Chap.  IX.  —  The  Bachelor  arrives  at  San  Sebastian.  — 
His  Disasters  there,  and  subsequent  Exploits  at 
Darien  142 

Chap.  X.  —  The  Bachelor  Enciso  undertakes  the  Com- 
mand. —  His  Downfall  145 

Chap.  XI.  —  Perplexities  at  the  Colony.  —  Arrival  of 

Colmenares  147 

Chap.  XII.  —  Colmenares  goes  in  Quest  of  Nicuesa    .  149 

Chap.  XIII.  —  Catastrophe  of  the  unfortunate  Nicuesa  153 

VASCO  NUNEZ  DE  BALBOA, 

DISCOVERER  OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

Chap.  I.  —  Factions  at  Darien.  — Vasco  Nunez  elevated 

to  the  Command  159 

Chap.  II.  —  Expedition  to  Coyba — Vasco  Nunez  re- 
ceives the  Daughter  of  a  Cacique  as  Hostage  •      .  162 

Chap.  III.  —  Vasco  Nunez  hears  of  a  Sea  beyond  the 

Mountains  167 

Ckap.  IV. — Expedition  of  Vasco  Nunez  in  Quest  of 

the  Golden  Temple  of  Dobayba      .      .      .  .173 

Chap.  V.  —  Disaster  on  the  Black  River.  —  Indian  Plot 

against  Darien  178 

Chap.  VI.  —  Further  Factions  in  the  Colony.  —  A  rro- 

gance  of  Alonzo  Perez  and  the  Bachelor  Corral     .  183 

Chap.  VII.  —  Vasco  Nunez  determines  to  seek  the  Sea 

beyond  the  Mountains  188 

Chap.  V  HI.  —  Expedition  in  Quest  of  the  Southern 

Sea  .      .      .  ...  190 


viii 


CONTENTS 


PAGI 

Chap.  IX.  —  Discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean       .      i  193 

Chap.  X.  —  Vasco  Nuiiez  marches  to  the  Shores  of  the 

South  Sea  195 

Chap.  XI.  —  Adventures  of  Vasco  Nunez  on  the  Pacific 

Ocean  20i 

Chap.  XII.  —  Further  Adventures  and  Exploits  of 

Vasco  Nunez   211 

Chap.  XIII.  —  Vasco  Nunez  sets  out  on  his  Return 
across  the  Mountains.  —  His  Contests  with  the  Sav- 
ages  21*. 

Chap.  XIV.  —  Enterprise  against  Tubanama,  the  war- 
like Cacique  of  the  Mountains.  —  Return  to  Darien  21> 

Chap.  XV.  —  Transactions  in  Spain.  —  Pedrarias  Da- 
vila  appointed  to  the  Command  of  Darien.  —  Tid- 
ings received  in  Spain  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean  224 

Chap.  XVI.  —  Arrival  and  grand  Entry  of  Don  Pe- 
drarias Davila  into  Darien  232 

Chap.  XVII.  —  Perfidious  Conduct  of  Don  Pedrarias 

towards  Vasco  Nuiiez  236 

Chap.  XVIII.  —  Calamities  of  the  Spanish  Cavaliers 

at  Darien  240 

Chap.  XIX. — Fruitless  Expedition  of  Pedrarias  .      .  243 

Chap.  XX.  —  Second  Expedition  of  Vasco  Nuiiez  in 

Quest  of  the  Golden  Temple  of  Doba^^ba       .  .245 

Chap.  XXI.  —  Letters  from  the  King  in  Favor  of  Vasco 
Nunez.  —  Arrival  of  Garabito. — Arrest  of  Vasco 
Nuiiez  249 

Chap.  XXII.  —Expedition  of  Morales  and  Pizarro  to 
the  Shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  —  Their  Visit  to 
the  Pearl  Islands.  —  Their  disastrous  Return  across 
the  Mountains  253 

Chap.  XXIII.  —  Unfortunate  Enterprises  of  the  Officers 
of  Pedrarias.  —  Matrimonial  Compact  between  the 
Governor  and  Vasco  Nunez  269 

Chap.  XXIV.  —  Vasco  Nunez  transports  Ships  across 

the  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ....  26€ 


CONTENTS. 


is 


PAOl 

Chap.  XXV.  —  Cruise  of  Vasco  Nunez  in  the  Southern 

Sea.  —  Rumors  from  Ada  270 

Chap.  XXVI.  —  Reconnoitring  Expedition  of  Garabito. 

—  Stratagem  of  Pedrarias  to  entrap  Vasco  Nunez  .  273 

Chap.  XXVII.  —  Vasco  Nuiiez  and  the  Astrologer. — 

His  Return  to  Ada  276 

Chap.  XXVIII.  ~  Trial  of  Vasco  Nunez      .      .  .279 

Chap.  XXIX.  —  Execution  of  Vasco  Nuiiez .      .  .283 


Valdivia  and  his  Companions     .  .      •      •  287 


MtiCEB  CoDRO)  the  Astrologer  .303 


JUAN  PONCE  DE  LEON, 

CCafQUEROR  OF  PORTO  RICO,  AND  DISCOVERER  OP 
FLORIDA. 

Chap.  I.  —  Reconnoitring  Expedition  of  Juan  Ponce  de 

Leon  to  the  Island  of  Boriquen  ....  305 
Chap.  II.  —  Juan  Ponce  aspires  to  the  Government  of 

Porto  Rico   .  .309 

Chap.  III.  —  Juan  Ponce  rules  with  a  strong  Hand.  — 

Exasperation  of  the  Indians.  —  Their  Experiment 

to  prove  whether  the  Spaniards  were  mortal  .  .  311 
Chap.  IV.  —  Conspiracy  of  the  Caciques.  —  Fate  of 

Sotomayor   314 

Chap.  V.  —  War  of  Juan  Ponce  with  the  Cacique 

Agueybana  319 

Chap.  VI.  —  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  hears  of  a  wonderful 

Country  and  miraculous  Fountain  ....  324 
Chap.  VII.  —  Cruise  of  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  in  Search 

of  the  Fountain  of  Youth .  ....  327 
Chap.  VIII.  —  Expedition  of  Juan  Ponce  against  the 

Canbs.  —  His  Death  331 


t 


CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX. 

N"o.  1.  —  Transportation  of  the  Remains  of  Columbus 


from  St.  Domingo  to  the  Havana    ....  &3f 

No.  II.  —  Notice  of  the  Descendants  of  Columbus      •  314 

No.  III.  —  Fernando  Columbus   367 

No.  IV. «—  Age  of  Columbus   370 

No.  V.  —  Lmeage  of  Columbus  .....  372 
No.  VI.  —  Birthplace  of  Columbus       .       .      .  .376 

No.  VII.  — The  Colombos   386 

N  o,  VIII.  —  Expedition  of  John  of  Anjou  .  .  .  389 
No.  IX.  —  Capture  of  the  Venetian  Galleys  by  Colombo 

the  Younger   392 

N"©.  X.  —  Amerigo  Vespucci   395 

No.  XI.  —  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon   418 

No.  XII.  —  Rumor  of  the  Pilot  said  to  have  died  in  the 

House  of  Columbus   422 

No.  XIII.  —  Martin  Behera   427 

No.  XIV.  —  Voyages  of  the  Scandinavians  .      .       .  432 


No.  XV.  —  Circumnavigation  of  Africa  by  the  Ancients  440 
No.  XVI.  —  Of  the  Ships  of  Columbus  ....  444 
No.  XVII.  —  Route  of  Columbus  in  his  first  Voyage    .  -  447 
No.  XVIII.  —  Principles  upon  which  the  Sums  men- 
tioned in  this  Work  have  been  reduced  into  modem 


Currency  ,  469 

No.  XIX.     Prester  John   471 

No.  XX.  — Marco  Polo   474 

No.  XXI.  —  The  Work  of  Maivo  Polo   487 

No.  XXII.  —  Sir  John  MandeviUe   494 

No.  XXIII.  —  The  Zones   497 

No.  XXIV.  —  Of  the  Atalantis  of  Plato  ....  499 

Nc.  XXV.  —  The  imaginary  Island  of  St.  Brandan      .  501 

No.  XXVI.  —  The  Island  of  the  Seven  Cities      .      .  511 

No.  XXVII.  —  Discovery  of  the  Island  of  Madeira  513 

No.  XXVIII.  —  Las  Casas   518 

No.  XXIX.— Peter  Martyr   529 

No.  XXX.  —  Oviedo   537 

No.  XXXI.  —  Cura  de  Los  Palacios            .      .  539 


CONTENTS. 


No.  XXXII.        Navigatione  del  Re  de  Castiglia  delle 
Isole  e  Paese  Nuovamente  Kitrovate."  —  "Naviga- 


tio  Christophori  Colombi "  .  .  ,  .  .  54\ 
No.  XXXIII.  — Antonio  de  Herrera      ....  543 

No.  XXXIV.  — Bishop  Fonseca  545 

Nc  XXXV.  —  Of  the  Situation  of  the  Terrestrial  Para- 
dise  551 

No,  XXXVI.  —  Will  of  Columbus  ...  .559 
No.  XXXVII.  —  Signature  of  Columbus  .  .  .572 
No.  XXX VIII.  —  A  Visit  to  Palos ....  574 
No.  XXXIX.  —  Manifesto  of  Alonzo  de  C  jeda  .  595 
Index   ,599 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  first  discovery  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  has 
already  been  related  by  the 
Author  in  his  History  of  Colum- 
bus. It  is  proposed  by  him,  in 
the  present  work,  to  narrate  the 
enterprises  of  certain  of  the  com- 
panions and  disciples  of  the 
admiral,  who,  enkindled  by  his  zeal,  and  instructed 
by  his  example,  sallied  forth  separately  in  the  vast 
region  of  adventure  to  which  he  had  led  the  way. 
Many  of  them  sought  merely  to  skirt  the  continent 
which  he  had  partially  visited  ;  to  secure  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  pearl  fisheries  of  Paria  and  Cubaga ;  or 
to  explore  the  coast  of  Yeragua,  which  he  had  rep- 
resented as  the  Aurea  Chersonesus  of  the  ancients. 
Others  aspired  to  accomplish  a  grand  discovery  which 
he  had  meditated  towards  the  close  of  his  career.  In 
the  course  of  his  expeditions  along  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma,  Columbus  had  repeatedly  received  informa- 
tion of  the  existence  of  a  vast  sea  to  the  south.  He 
supposed  it  to  be  the  great  Indian  Ocean,  the  region 
of  the  Oriental  spice  islands,  and  that  it  must  com 
municate  by  a  strait  with  the  Caribbean  Sea.  Hia 
last  and  most  disastrous  voyage  was  made  for  the  ex- 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


press  purpose  of  discovering  that  imaginary  strait,  and 
making  his  way  into  the  Southern  Ocean.  The  il' 
lustrious  navigator,  however,  was  doomed  to  die,  as 
it  were,  upon  the  threshokl  of  his  discoveries.  It  waa 
reserv^ed  for  one  of  his  followers,  Yasco  Nunez  de 
Halboa,  to  obtain  the  first  view  of  the  promised  ocean, 
from  the  lofty  mountains  of  Darien,  some  years  after 
tlie  eyes  of  the  venerable  admiral  had  been  closed 
in  death.  The  expeditions  here  narrated,  therefore, 
may  be  considered  as  springing  immediately  out  of 
the  voyages  of  Columbus,  and  fulfilling  some  of  his 
grand  designs.  They  may  be  compared  to  the  at- 
tempts of  adventurous  knights-errant  to  achieve  the 
enterprise  left  unfinished  by  some  illustrious  prede- 
cessor. Neither  is  this  comparison  entirely  fanciful ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  curious  fact,  well  worthy  of 
notice,  that  the  spirit  of  chivalry  entered  largely  into 
the  early  expeditions  of  the  Spanish  discoverers, 
giving  them  a  character  wholly  distinct  from  similar 
enterprises,  undertaken  by  other  nations.  It  will 
not,  perhaps,  be  considered  far-sought,  if  we  trace 
the  cause  of  this  peculiarity  to  the  domestic  history 
of  the  Spaniards  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

Eight  centuries  of  incessant  warfare  with  the 
Moorish  usurpers  of  the  Peninsula,  produced  a  deep 
and  lasting  efiect  upon  Spanish  character  and  man- 
ners. The  war  being  ever  close  at  home,  mingled 
itself  with  the  domestic  habits  and  concerns  of  the 
Spaniard.  He  was  born  a  soldier.  The  wild  and 
predatory  nature  of  the  war  also  made  him  a  kind  of 
chivalrous  marauder.  His  delight  was  in  roving  in- 
cursions and  extravagant  exploits  ;  and  no  gain  was 
so  glorious  in  his  eyes  as  the  cavalgada  of  spoils  and 
captives  driven  home  in  triumph  from  a  plundered 
province.  Religion,  which  has  ever  held  great  em- 
pire over  the  Spanish  mind,  lent  its  aid  to  sanctify 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


these  roving  and  ravaging  propensities,  and  the  Cas- 
tiUian  cavalier,  as  he  sacked  the  towns,  and  hiid 
waste  the  fields  of  his  Moslem  neighbor,  piously  be- 
lieved he  was  doing  God  service. 

The  conquest  of  Granada  put  an  end  to  the  penin- 
sular wars  between  Christian  and  Infidel :  the  spirit 
of  Spanish  chivalry  was  thus  suddenly  deprived  of  its 
wonted  sphere  of  action  ;  but  it  had  been  too  long 
fostered  and  excited,  to  be  as  suddenly  appeased. 
The  youth  of  the  nation,  bred  up  to  daring  adventure 
and  heroic  achievement,  could  not  brook  the  tran- 
quil and  regular  pursuits  of  common  life,  but  panted 
for  some  new  field  of  romantic  enterprise. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  grand  project  of 
Columbus  was  carried  into  effect.  His  treaty  with 
the  sovereigns  was,  in  a  manner,  signed  with  the 
same  pen  that  had  subscribed  the  capitulation  of  the 
Moorish  capital ;  and  his  first  expedition  may  almost 
be  said  to  have  departed  from  beneath  the  walls  of 
Granada.  Many  of  the  youthful  cavaliers,  who  had 
flashed  their  swords  in  that  memorable  war,  crowded 
the  ships  of  the  discoverers,  thinking  a  new  career 
of  arms  was  to  be  opened  to  them  —  a  kind  of  cru- 
sade into  splendid  and  unknown  regions  of  infidels. 
The  very  weapons  and  armor  that  had  been  used 
against  the  Moors,  were  drawn  from  the  arsenal  to 
equip  the  heroes  of  these  remoter  adventures  ;  and 
8omo  of  the  most  noted  commanders  in  the  New 
World,  will  be  found  to  have  made  their  first  essay  in 
arms,  under  the  banner  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa,bella^ 
in  their  romantic  campaigns  among  the  mountains  of 
Andalusia. 

To  these  circumstances  may,  in  a  great  measure, 
be  ascribed  that  swelling  chivalrous  spirit  which  will 
be  found  continually  mingling,  or  rather  warring; 
with  the  technical  habits  of  the  seaman  and  the  sor« 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


did  scliemes  of  the  mercenary  adventurer,  in  tbesa 
early  Spanish  discoveries.  Chivalry  had  left  the 
land  and  launched  upon  the  deep.  The  Spanish 
cavalier  had  embarked  in  the  caravel  of  the  discov- 
erer. He  carried  among  the  trackless  wildernesses 
of  the  New  World  the  same  contempt  of  danger  anc* 
fortitude  under  suffering ;  the  same  restless,  roaming 
spirit ;  the  same  passion  for  inroad  and  ravage,  and 
vainglorious  exploit ;  and  the  same  fervent,  and  often 
bigoted  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  his  faith,  that  had 
distinguished  him  during  his  warfare  with  the  Moors. 
Instances  in  point  will  be  found  in  the  extravagant 
career  of  the  daring  Ojeda,  particularly  in  his  ad- 
ventures along  the  coast  of  Terra  Firma  and  the 
wild  shores  of  Cuba ;  in  the  sad  story  of  the  "  un- 
fortunate Nicuesa,"  graced  as  it  is  with  occasional 
touches  of  high-bred  courtesy;  in  the  singular 
cruise  of  that  brave  but  credulous  old  cavalier,  Juan 
Ponce  de  Leon,  who  fell  upon  the  flowery  coast  of 
Florida  in  his  search  after  an  imaginary  fountain  of 
youth ;  and  above  all,  in  the  checkered  fortunes  of 
Yasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  whose  discovery  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  forms  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
striking  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  New  World, 
and  whose  fate  might  furnish  a  theme  of  wonderful 
interest  for  a  poem  or  a  drama. 

The  extraordinary  actions  and  adventures  of  these 
men,  while  they  rival  the  exploits  recorded  in  chival- 
ric  romance,  have  the  additional  interest  of  verity. 
They  leave  us  in  admiration  of  the  bold  and  heroic 
qualities  inherent  in  the  Spanish  character,  which  led 
that,  nation  to  so  high  a  pitch  of  power  and  glory ; 
and  which  are  still  dis'.'ernible  in  the  great  mass  of 
that  gallant  people,  by  those  who  have  an  opportunity^ 
of  judging  of  them  rightly. 

Before  concluding  these  prefatory  remarks,  th« 


INTRODUCTION 


Jo 


A-utlior  would  acknowledge  how  mucli  he  has  been 
indebted  to  the  third  volume  of  the  invaluable  His- 
torical Collection  of  Don  Martin  Fernandez  de  Nav 
arrete,  wherein  that  author  has  exhibited  his  usual 
industry,  accuracy,  and  critical  acumen.  He  has 
likewise  profited  greatly  by  the  second  volume  of 
Ovedo*s  General  History,  which  only  exists  in  manu- 
Bcript,  and  a  copy  of  which  he  found  in  the  Colum- 
bian Library  of  the  Cathedral  of  Seville.  He  has 
had  some  assistance  also  from  the  documents  of  the 
law  case  between  Don  Diego  Columbus  and  the 
crown,  which  exist  in  the  Archives  of  the  Indies,  and 
for  an  inspection  of  which  he  is  much  indebted  to  the 
permission  of  the  government  and  the  kind  atten- 
tions of  Don  Josef  de  la  Higuera  y  Lara,  the  intel- 
ligent keeper  of  the  Archives.  These,  with  the  his- 
torical works  of  Herrera,  Las  Casas,  Gomera,  and 
Peter  Martyr,  have  been  his  authorities  for  the  facts 
contained  in  the  following  work,  though  he  has  not 
thought  proper  to  refer  to  them  continually  at  the 
bottom  of  his  page. 

While  his  work  was  going  through  the  press,  he 
received  a  volume  of  Spanish  Biography,  written 
with  great  elegance  and  accm-acy,  by  Don  Manuel 
Josef  Quintana,  and  containing  a  life  of  Yasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa.  He  was  gratified  to  find  that  his 
own  arrangements  of  facts  was  generally  corrobo- 
rated by  this  work  ;  though  he  was  enabled  to  correct 
his  dates  in  several  instances,  and  to  make  a  few 
other  emendations  from  the  volume  of  Senor  Quin- 
tana, whose  position  in  Spain  gave  him  the  means  of 
attaining  superior  exactness  on  these  points. 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES 

OF 

THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS. 


ALONZO  DE  OJEDA,! 

mS  FIPHT  VOYAGE,  IN  WHICH  HE  WAS  ACCOM- 
PANIED BY  AMERIGO  VESPUCCI .2 


CHAPTER  1. 

SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  OJEDA.  —  OF  JUAN  DE  LA  COSA  —OF 
AMERIGO  VESPUCCI.— PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  VOY- 
AGE. 

[1499.] 

HOSE  who  have  read  the  history  of  Co- 
lumbus will,  doubtless,  remember  the 
character  and  exploits  of  Alonzo  de 
Ojeda ;  as  some  of  the  readers  of  the  following 

1  Ojeda  is  pronounced  in  Spanish  Oheda,  with  a  strong  as- 
piration of  the  A. 

2  Vespucci,  pronounced  Vespuchy. 


18         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

pages,  however,  may  not  have  persued  that  work, 
and  as  it  is  proposed  at  present  to  trace  the  sub- 
sequent fortunes  of  this  youthful  adventurer,  a 
brief  sketch  of  him  may  not  be  deemed  super- 
5uous. 

Alonzo  de  Ojeda  was  a  native  of  Cuenca,  in 
New  Castile,  and  of  a  respectable  family.  He 
was  brought  up  as  a  page  or  esquire,  in  the  service 
of  Don  Luis  de  Cerda,  Duke  of  Medina  Cell,  one 
of  the  most  powerful  nobles  of  Spain ;  the  same 
who  for  some  time  patronized  Columbus  during 
his  application  to  the  Spanish  court.-^ 

In  those  warlike  days,  when  the  peninsula  was 
distracted  by  contests  between  the  Christian  king- 
doms, by  feuds  between  the  nobles  and  the  crown, 
and  by  incessant  and  marauding  warfare  with  the 
Moors,  the  household  of  a  Spanish  nobleman  was 
a  complete  school  of  arms,  where  the  youth  of 
the  country  were  sent  to  be  trained  up  in  all  kinds 
of  hardy  exercises,  and  to  be  led  to  battle  under 
an  illustrious  banner.  Such  was  especially  the 
case  with  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Medina  Celi, 
who  possessed  princely  domains,  whose  household 
was  a  petty  court,  who  led  legions  of  armed  re- 
tainers to  the  field,  and  who  appeared  in  splendid 
state  and  with  an  immense  retinue,  more  as  an  ally 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  than  as  a  subject.  He 
engaged  in  many  of  the  roughest  expeditions  of 
the  memorable  war  of  Granada,  always  insisting 
on  leading  his  own  troops  in  person,  when  the 
service  was  of  peculiar  difficulty  and  danger.  Al- 
onzo de  Ojeda  was  formed  to  signaUze  himself  in 

1  Varones  Ilustres,  por  F.  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  p.  41.  IjH9 
Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  1.  cap.  82. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  19 

such  a  school.  Though  small  of  stature,  he  waa 
well  made,  and  of  wonderful  force  and  activity, 
with  a  towering  spirit  that  seemed  to  make  up  for 
deficiency  of  height.  He  was  a  bold  and  graceful 
horseman,  an  excellent  foot  soldier,  dexterous  with 
every  weapon,  and  noted  for  his  extraordinary 
skill  and  adroitness  in  all  feats  of  strength  and 
agility. 

He  must  have  be^n  quite  young  when  he  fol- 
lowed the  Duke  of  Medina  Celi,  as  page,  to  the 
Moorish  v^ars ;  for  he  was  but  about  twenty-one 
years  of  age  when  he  accompanied  Columbus  in 
his  second  voyage ;  he  had  already,  however,  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  enterprising  spirit  and 
headlong  valor ;  and  his  exploits  during  that  voy- 
age contributed  to  enhance  his  reputation.  He 
returned  to  Spain  with  Columbus,  but  did  not  ac- 
company him  in  his  third  voyage,  in  the  spring  of 
1498.  He  was  probably  impatient  of  subordina- 
tion, and  ambitious  of  a  separate  employment  or 
command,  which  the  influence  of  his  connections 
gave  him  a  great  chance  of  obtaining.  He  had 
a  cousin  german  of  his  own  name,  the  reverend 
Padre  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  a  Dominican  friar,  one 
of  the  nrst  inquisitors  of  Spain,  and  a  great  favor- 
ite with  thf  Catholic  sovereigns.-^  This  father  in- 
quisitor ware,  moreover,  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
bishop  Don  Juan  Rodriguez  Fonseca,  who  had  the 
chief  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Indies, 
under  which  general  name  were  comprehended 
all  the  countries  discovered  in  the  New  World. 
Through  the  good  offices  of  his  cousin  inquisitor 
1  Pizarro.    Varon^s  Ilustres. 


20         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


therefore,  Ojeda  had  been  introduced  to  the  notice 
of  the  bishop,  who  took  him  into  his  especial  favor 
and  patronage.  Mention  has  already  been  made 
in  the  History  of  Columbus,  of  a  present  made 
by  the  bishop  to  Ojeda  of  a  small  Flemish  paint- 
ing of  the  Holy  Virgin.  This  the  young  adven- 
turer carried  about  with  him  as  a  protecting  relic, 
invoking  it  at  all  times  of  peril,  whether  by  sea 
or  land ;  and  to  the  especial  care  of  the  Virgin  he 
attributed  the  remarkable  circumstance,  that  he 
had  never  been  wounded  in  any  of  the  innumer- 
able brawls  and  battles  into  which  he  was  continu- 
ally betrayed  by  his  rash  and  fiery  temperament. 

While  Ojeda  was  lingering  about  the  court, 
letters  were  received  from  Columbus,  giving  aa 
account  of  the  events  of  his  third  voyage,  espec- 
ially of  his  discovery  of  the  coast  of  Paria,  wliich 
he  described  as  abounding  in  drugs  and  spices,  in 
gold  and  silver,  and  precious  stones,  and,  above  all, 
in  Oriental  pearls,  and  which  he  supposed  to  be 
the  borders  of  that  vast  and  unknown  region  of 
the  East,  wherein,  according  to  certain  learned 
theorists,  was  situated  the  terrestrial  paradise. 
Specimens  of  the  pearls,  procured  in  considerable 
quantities  from  the  natives,  accompanied  his  epistle, 
together  with  charts  descriptive  of  his  route. 
These  tidings  caused  a  great  sensation  among  the 
maritime  adventurers  of  Spain  ;  but  no  one  was 
more  excited  by  them  than  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who, 
<rom  his  intimacy  with  the  bishop,  had  full  access 
to  the  charts  and  correspondence  of  Columl)us. 
He  immediately  conceived  the  project  of  making 
a  voyage  in  the  route  thus  marked  out  by  the  ad 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUtl  21 

miral,  and  of  seizing  upon  the  first  fruits  of  dis' 
covery  which  he  had  left  ungathered.  His  scheme 
met  with  ready  encouragement  from  Fonseca,  who, 
as  has  heretofore  been  shown,  was  an  implacable 
enemy  to  Columbus,  and  willing  to  promote  any 
measure  that  might  injure  or  molest  him.  The 
bishop  accordingly  granted  a  commission  to  Ojeda, 
authorizing  him  to  fit  out  an  armament  and  pro- 
ceed on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  with  the  proviso 
merely  that  he  should  not  visit  any  territories  ap- 
pertaining to  Portugal,  nor  any  of  the  lands  dis- 
covered in  the  name  of  Spain  previous  to  the  year 
1495.  The  latter  part  of  this  provision  appears 
to  have  been  craftily  worded  by  the  bishop,  so  aa 
to  leave  the  coast  of  Paria  and  its  pearl  fisheries 
open  to  Ojeda,  they  having  been  recently  dis- 
covered by  Columbus  in  1498. 

The  commission  was  signed  by  Fonseca  alone, 
in  virtue  of  general  powers  vested  in  him  for  such 
purposes,  but  the  signature  of  the  sovereigns  did 
not  appear  on  the  instrument,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  their  sanction  was  sought  on  the  occasion. 
He  knew  that  Columbus  had  recently  remonstrated 
against  a  royal  mandate  issued  in  1495,  permit* 
ting  voyages  of  discovery  by  private  adventurers, 
and  that  the  sovereigns  had  in  consequence  revoked 
their  .mandate  wherever  it  might  be  deemed  pre- 
judicial to  the  stipulated  privileges  of  the  admu-al.^ 
It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  bishop  avoided 
raising  any  question  that  might  impede  the  enter- 
prise ;  being  confident  of  the  ultimate  approbation 
of  Ferdinand,  who  would  be  well  pleased  to  hav^ 
1  Navarrete,  torn.  ii.  Document  cxiii. 


22         VO FACES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


his  dominions  in  tbe  New  World  extended  by  the 
discoveries  of  private  adventurers,  undertaken  at 
their  own  expense.  It  was  stipulated  in  this,  as 
well  as  in  subsequent  licenses  for  private  expedi- 
tions that  a  certain  proportion  of  the  profits,  gen- 
erally a  fourth  or  fifth,  should  be  reserved  for  the 
crown. 

Having  thus  obtained  permission  to  make  the 
voyage,  the  next  consideration  with  Ojeda  was  to 
find  the  means.  He  was  a  young  adventurer,  a 
mere  soldier  of  fortune,  and  destitute  of  wealth 
but  he  had  a  high  reputation  for  courage  an: 
enterprise,  and  with  these,  it  was  thought,  would 
soon  make  his  way  to  the  richest  parts  of  the 
newly-discovered  lands,  and  have  the  wealth  of 
the  Indies  at  his  disposal.  He  had  no  difiiculty, 
therefore,  in  finding  moneyed  associates  among 
the  rich  merchants  of  Seville,  who,  in  that  age 
of  discovery,  were  ever  ready  to  stake  their  prop 
erty  upon  the  schemes  of  roving  navigators. 
With  such  assistance  he  soon  equipped  a  squad- 
ron of  four  vessels  at  Port  St.  Mary,  opposite 
Cadiz.  Among  the  seamen  who  engaged  with 
him  were  several  just  returned  from  accompany- 
ing Columbus  in  his  voyage  to  this  very  coast 
of  Paria.  The  principal  associate  of  Ojeda,  and 
one  on  whom  he  placed  great  reliance,  was  Juan 
de  la  Cosa ;  who  accompanied  him  as  first  mate, 
or,  as  it  was  termed,  chief  pilot.  Tliis  was  a  bold 
Biscay  an,  who  may  be  regarded  as  a  disciple  of 
Columbus,  \^  ith  whom  he  had  sailed  in  his  sec- 
ond voyage  when  he  coasted  Cuba  and  Jamaica, 
and  he  had  since  accompanied  Rodrigo  de  Bas 


THE  COMPAJV/ONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  23 


tides,  in  an  expedition  along  the  coast  of  Teira 
Firma.  The  hardy  veteran  was  looked  up  to  by 
his  contemporaries  as  an  oracle  of  the  seas,  and 
was  pronounced  one  of  the  most  able  mariners 
of  the  day ;  he  may  be  excused,  theretore,  if,  in 
his  harmless  vanity,  he  considered  himself  on  ? 
par  even  with  Columbus.^ 

Another  conspicuous  associate  of  Ojeda,  in  this 
voyage,  was  Amerigo  Vespucci,  a  Florentine 
merchant,  induced  by  broken  fortunes  and  a 
rambling  disposition  to  seek  adventures  in  the 
New  World.  Whether  he  had  any  pecuniary 
interest  in  the  expedition,  and  in  what  capacity 
he  sailed,  does  not  appear.  His  importance  has 
entirely  arisen  from  subsequent  circumstances ; 
from  his  having  written  and  published  a  narra- 
tive of  his  voyages,  and  from  his  name  having 
ev^entually  been  given  to  the  New  World. 


CHAPTER  n. 

DEPARTURE  FROM  SPAIN.  —  ARRIVAL  ON  THE  COAST  OF 
PARIA.— CUSTOMS  OF  THE  NATIVES. 

Ojeda  sailed  from  Port  St.  Mary  on  the  20th 
of  May,  1499,  and,  having  touched  for  supplies  at 
the  Canaries,  took  a  departure  from  Gomara,  pur- 
suing the  route  of  Columbus  in  his  third  voyage, 
being  g-uided  by  the  chart  he  had  sent  home,  as 
well  as  by  the  mariners  who  accompanied  him  on 
that  occasion.  At  the  end  of  twenty-four  days  he 
1  Xavarrete,  Colec.  Yiag.,  torn.  iii.  p.  4. 


24         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


reached  the  continent  of  the  New  World,  ahoun 
two  hundred  leagues  further  south  than  the  part 
discovered  by  Columbus,  being,  as  it  is  supposed^ 
the  joast  of  Surinam.^ 

Hence  he  ran  along  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of 
Paria,  passing  the  mouths  of  many  rivers,  but 
especially  those  of  the  Esquivo  and  the  Oronoko, 
These,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Spaniards,  un- 
accustomed as  yet  to  the  mighty  rivers  of  the 
New  World,  poured  forth  such  a  prodigous 
volume  of  water,  as  to  freshen  the  sea  for  a 
great  extent.  They  beheld  none  of  the  natives 
until  they  arrived  at  Trinidad,  on  which  island 
they  met  with  traces  of  the  recent  visit  of  Colum- 
bus. 

Vespucci,  in  his  letters,  gives  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  the  people  of  this  island  and  the  coast  of 
Paria,  who  were  of  the  Carib  race,  taU,  well 
made,  and  vigorous,  and  expert  with  the  bow, 
the  lance,  and  the  buckler.  His  description,  in 
general,  resembles  those  which  have  fre<^uently 
been  given  of  the  aboriginals  of  the  New  World  ; 
there  are  two  or  three  particulars,  however,  worthy 
of  citation. 

They  appeared,  he  said,  to  believe  in  no 
religious  creed,  to  have  no  place  of  wors^^'p,  and 
to  make  no  prayers  nor  sacrifices ;  but,  h^.  adds, 
from  the  voluptuousness  of  their  livf^,  they 
might  be  considered  epicureans.^  Their  habita- 
tions were  built  in  the  shape  of  bells ;  -^f  the 
trunks  of  trees,  thatched  with  palm-leav^-^,  and 

1  Navarrete,  tom.  iii.  p.  "5. 

2  Viages  de  Vespucci.  Navarrete,  torn.  iii.  p.  \ 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  25 

were  proof  against  wind  and  weather.  They 
appeared  to  be  in  common,  and  some  of  them 
were  of  such  magnitude  as  to  contain  six  hundred 
persons :  in  one  place  there  were  eight  principal 
houses  capable  of  sheltering  nearly  ten  thousand 
inhabitants.  Every  seven  or  eight  years,  the 
natives  were  obliged  to  change  their  residence, 
from  the  maladies  engendered  by  the  heat  of  the 
climate  in  their  crowded  habitations. 

Their  riches  consisted  in  beads  and  ornaments 
made  from  the  bones  of  fishes ;  in  small  white 
and  green  stones  strung  like  rosaries,  with  which 
they  adorned  their  persons,  and  in  the  beautiful 
plumes  of  various  colors  for  which  the  tropical 
birds  are  noted. 

The  Spaniards  smiled  at  their  simplicity  in  at- 
taching an  extraordinary  value  to  such  worthless 
trifles ;  while  the  savages,  in  all  probability,  were 
equally  surprised  at  beholding  the  strangers  so 
eager  after  gold,  and  pearls,  and  precious  stones, 
which  to  themselves  were  objects  of  indifference. 

Their  manner  treating  the  dead  was  similar 
to  that  observed  among  the  natives  of  some  of 
the  islands.  Having  deposited  the  corpse  in  a 
cavern  or  sepulchre,  they  placed  a  jar  of  water 
and  a  few  eatables  at  its  head,  and  then  aban- 
doned it  without  moan  or  lamentation.  In  some 
-parts  of  the  coast,  when  a  person  was  considered 
near  his  end,  his  nearest  relatives  bore  him  to 
woods,  and  laid  him  in  a  hammock,  sus- 
oended  to  the  trees.  They  then  danced  round 
him  until  evening,  when,  Jiaving  left  within  his 
'•each  sufficient  meat  and  drink  to  sustain  him  fof 


26         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


four  daysj  they  repaired  to  their  habitations.  If 
he  recovered  and  returned  home,  he  was  received 
with  much  ceremony  and  rejoicing;  if  he  died 
of  his  malady  or  of  famine,  nothing  more  was 
thought  of  him. 

Their  mode  of  treating  a  fever,  is  also  worthy 
of  mention.  In  the  height  of  the  malady  they 
plunged  the  patient  in  a  bath  of  the  coldest 
water,  after  wliich  they  obliged  him  to  make 
many  evolutions  round  a  great  fire,  until  he  was 
in  a  violent  heat,  when  they  put  him  to  bed,  that 
he  might  sleep :  a  treatment,  by  which  Amerigo 
Vespucci  declares  he  saw  many  cured. 


CHAPTER  III. 

COASTING  OF  TERRA  FIRM  A. —  MILITARY  EXPEDITION  OF 
OJEDA. 

After  touching  at  various  parts  of  Trinidad 
and  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  Ojeda  passed  through  the 
strait  of  the  Boca  del  Drago,  or  Dragon's  Mouth, 
which  Columbus  had  found  so  formidable,  and 
then  steered  his  course  along  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma,  landing  occasionally,  until  he  arrived  at 
Curiana,  or  the  Gulf  of  Pearls.  Hence  he  stood 
to  the  opposite  island  of  Margarita,  previously  dis- 
covered b}^  Columbus  and  since  renowned  for  its 
pearl  fishery.  This,  as  well  as  several  adjacent  isl- 
ands, he  visited  and  explored ;  after  which  he  re-* 
turned  to  the  mainland,  and  touched  at  Cumana 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  27 


and  Maracapaiia,  where  he  found  the  rivers  in 
fested  with  alligators,  resembling  the  crocodilea 
of  the  Nile. 

Finding  a  convenient  harbor  at  Maracapana, 
he  unloaded  and  careened  his  vessels  there,  and 
built  a  small  brigantine.  The  natives  came  to 
him  in  great  numbers,  bringing  abundance  of  veni- 
son, fish,  and  cassava  bread,  and  aiding  the  sea- 
men in  their  labors.  Their  hospitality  was  not 
certainly  disinterested,  for  they  sought  to  gain  the 
protection  of  the  Spaniards,  whona  they  rever- 
enced as  superhuman  beings.  When  they  thought 
they  had  sufficiently  secured  their  favor,  they 
represented  to  Ojeda  that  their  coast  was  subject 
to  invasion  from  a  distant  island,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  were  cannibals,  and  carried  their  people 
into  captivity  to  be  devoured  at  their  unnatural 
banquets.  They  besought  Ojeda,  therefore,  to 
avenge  them  upon  these  ferocious  enemies. 

The  request  was  gratifying  to  the  fighting  pro  - 
pensities of  Ojeda,  and  to  his  love  of  adventure, 
and  was  readily  granted.  Taking  seven  of  the 
natives  on  board  of  his  vessels,  as  guides,  he  set 
sail  in  quest  of  the  cannibals.  After  sailing  for 
seven  days  he  came  to  a  chain  of  islands,  some 
peopled,  others  uninhabited,  supposed  to  have  been 
ihe  Caribbee  islands.  One  of  these  was  pointed 
out  by  his  guides  as  the  habitation  of  their  foes. 
On  running  near  the  shore  he  beheld  it  thronged 
with  savages,  decorated  with  coronets  of  gaudy 
nlumes,  their  bodies  painted  with  a  variety  of 
"  colors.  They  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows, 
with  darts,  lances,  and  bucklers,  and  seemed  pre 
pared  to  defend  their  island  from  invasion. 


28         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

The  show  of  war  was  calculated  to  rouse  the 
martial  spirit  of  Ojeda.  He  brought  his  ships  to 
anchor,  ordered  out  his  boats,  and  provided  each 
with  a  paterero  or  small  cannon.  Besides  the 
oarsmen,  each  boat  contained  a  number  of  sol- 
diers, who  were  told  to  crouch  out  of  sight  in  the 
bottom.  The  boats  then  pulled  in  steadily  for 
the  shore.  As  they  approached  the  Indians  let 
fly  a  cloud  of  arrows,  but  without  much  effect. 
Seeing  the  boats  continue  to  advance,  the  savages 
threw  themselves  into  the  sea,  and  brandished 
their  lances  to  prevent  their  landing.  Upon  this, 
the  soldiers  sprang  up  and  discharged  the  patere- 
ros.  At  the  sound  and  smoke  the  savages  aban- 
doned the  water  in  affright,  while  Ojeda  and  his 
men  leaped  on  shore  and  pursued  them.  The 
Carib  warriors  rallied  on  the  banks,  and  fought 
for  a  long  time  with  a  courage  peculiar  to  their 
race,  but  were  at  length  driven  to  the  woods  at 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  leaving  many  killed  and 
wounded  on  the  field  of  battle. 

On  the  following  day  the  savages  were  seen  on 
the  shore  in  still  greater  numbers,  armed  and 
painted,  and  decorated  with  war  plumes,  and 
sounding  defiance  with  their  conchs  and  drums. 
Ojeda  again  landed  with  fifty-seven  men,  whom 
he  separated  into  four  companies,  and  ordered  to 
charge  the  enemy  from  different  directions.  The 
Caribs  fought  for  a  time  hand  to  hand,  displaying 
great  dexterity  in  covering  themselves  with  their 
bucklers,  but  were  at  length  entirely  routed,  and 
driven  with  great  slaughter  to  the  forests.  The 
Spaniards  had  but  one  man  killed  and  twenty-ono 


rnE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  29 


woimd(id  in  these  combats  —  such  superior  ad- 
vantage did  their  armor  give  them  over  the  naked 
savages.  Having  phindered  and  set  fire  to  their 
houses,  they  returned  triumphantly  to  their  ships, 
with  a  number  of  Carib  captives ,  and  made  sail 
for  the  main-land.  Ojeda  bestovred  a  part  of  the 
spoil  upon  the  seven  Indians  who  had  accompan- 
ied him  as  guides,  and  sent  them  exulting  to  their 
homes,  to  relate  to  their  countrymen  the  signal 
vengeance  wreaked  upon  their  foes.  He  then  an- 
chored in  a  bay  where  he  remained  for  twenty 
days,  until  his  men  had  recovered  from  their 
wounds.^ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  GULF  OF  VENEZUELA.  —  TRANSAC- 
TIONS THERE.  — OJEDA  EXPLORES  THE  GULF. —PENE- 
TRATES TO  MARACAIBO. 

His  crew  being  refreshed  and  the  wounded  suf- 
ficiently recovered,  Ojeda  made  sail,  and  touched 
at  the  island  of  Curazao,  which,  according  to 
the  accounts  of  Vespucci,  was  inhabited  by  a  race 
of  giants,  "every  woman  appearing  a  Penthe- 

1  There  is  some  discrepance  in  the  early  accounts  of  this 
feattle,  as  to  the  time  and  place  of  its  occmTcnce.  The  author 
has  collated  the  narratives  of  Vespucci,  Las  Casas,  Herrera, 
and  Peter  Martyr,  and  the  evidence  given  in  the  lawsuit  oi 
Diego  Columbus,  and  has  endeavored  as  much  as  possible  to 
••pcoiicile  them. 


30         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

silea,  and  every  man  an  Anteeus."  ^  As  Vespucci 
was  a  scholar,  and  as  he  supposed  himself  ex- 
j>loring  the  regions  of  the  extreme  East,  the  an- 
cient realm  of  fable,  it  is  probable  his  imagination 
deceived  him,  and  construed  the  formidable  ac- 
counts given  by  the  Indians  of  their  cannibal  neigh- 
bors of  the  islands,  into  something  according  with 
his  recollections  of  classic  fable.  Certain  it  is,  that 
the  reports  of  subsequent  voyagers  proved  the  in- 
habitants of  the  island  to  be  of  the  ordinary  size. 

Proceeding  along  the  coast,  he  arrived  at  a  vast 
deep  gulf,  resembling  a  tranquil  lake ;  entering 
which,  he  beheld  on  the  eastern  side  a  village,  the 
construction  of  which  struck  him  with  surprise. 
It  consisted  of  twenty  large  houses,  shaped  like 
bells,  and  built  on  piles  driven  into  the  bottom  of 
the  lake,  which,  in  this  part,  was  limpid  and  of 
but  little  depth.  Each  house  was  provided  with 
a  draw-bridge,  and  with  canoes  by  which  the  com- 
munication was  carried  on.  From  these  resem- 
blances to  the  Italian  city,  Ojeda  gave  to  the  bay 
the  name  of  the  Gulf  of  Venice ;  and  it  is  called 
at  the  present  day  Venezuela,  or  little  Venice  ; 
the  Indian  name  was  Coquibacoa. 

When  the  inhabitants  beheld  the  ships  standing 
into  the  bay,  looking  like  wonderful  and  unknown 
aparitions  of  the  deep,  they  fled  with  terror  to 
their  houses,  and  raised  the  draw-bridges.  The 
Spaniards  remained  for  a  time  gazing  with  admi- 
ration at  tliis  amphibious  village,  when  a  squadron 
of  canoes  entered  the  harbor  from  the  sea.  On 

1  Vespucci.  —  Letter  to  Lorenzo  de  Pier  Francisco  de  Med« 


TEE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  o\ 

beholding  the  ships  they  paused  in  mute  amaze- 
ment, and  on  the  Spaniards  attempting  to  approach 
them,  paddled  swiftly  to  shore,  and  plunged  into 
the  forest.  They  soon  returned  with  sixteen 
young  girls,  whom  they  conveyed  in  their  canoes 
to  the  ships,  distributing  four  on  board  of  each, 
either  as  peace-offerings  or  as  tokens  of  amity 
and  confidence.  The  best  of  understanding  now 
seemed  to  be  established  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  village  came  swarming  about  the  ships  in  their 
canoes,  and  others  swimming  in  great  numbers 
from  the  shores. 

The  friendship  of  the  savages,  however,  was  all 
delusive.  On  a  sudden,  several  old  women  at  the 
doors  of  the  houses  uttered  loud  shrieks,  tearing 
their  hair  in  fury.  It  appeared  to  be  a  signal  for 
hostility.  The  sixteen  nymphs  plunged  into  the 
sea  and  made  for  shore ;  the  Indians  in  the  canoes 
caught  up  their  bows  and  discharged  a  flight  of 
arrows,  and  even  those  who  were  swimming  bran- 
dished darts  and  lances,  which  they  had  hitherto 
concealed  beneath  the  water. 

Ojeda  was  for  a  moment  surprised  at  seeing  wai 
thus  starting  up  on  every  side,  and  the  very  sea 
bristling  with  weapons.  Manning  his  boats,  he 
charged  amongst  the  thickest  of  the  enemy,  shat- 
tered and  sunk  several  of  their  canoes,  killed 
twenty  Indians  and  wounded  many  more,  and 
spread  such  a  panic  among  them,  that  most  of  the 
survivors  flung  themselves  into  the  sea  and  swam 
to  shore.  Three  of  them  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  two  of  the  fugitive  girls,  and  were  conveyed 
on  board  of  the  ships,  where  the  men  were  put  in 


32         VOYAGJ^S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

irons.  One  of  them,  however,  and  the  two  girls^ 
succeeded  in  dexterously  escaping  the  same  night. 

Ojeda  had  but  five  men  wounded  m  the  affray ; 
all  of  whom  recovered.  He  visited  the  houses^ 
but  found  them  abandoned  and  destitute  of  booty. 
Notwithstanding  the  unprovoked  hostility  of  the 
inhabitants,  he  spared  the  builduigs,  that  he  might 
not  cause  useless  irritf^tion  along  the  coast. 

Continuing  to  explore  this  gulf,  Ojeda  penetra- 
tvd  to  a  port  or  harbor,  to  which  he  gave  the  name 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  but  which  is  supposed  to  be 
the  same  at  present  known  by  the  original  Indian 
name  of  Maracaibo.  Here,  in  compliance  with 
the  entreaties  of  the  natives,  he  sent  a  detachment 
of  twenty-seven  Spaniards  on  a  visit  to  the  inte- 
rior. For  nine  days  they  were  conducted  from 
town  to  town,  and  feasted  and  almost  idolized  by 
the  Indians,  who  regarded  them  as  angelic  beings, 
performing  their  national  dances  and  games,  and 
chanting  their  traditional  ballads  for  their  enter- 
tainment. 

The  natives  of  this  part  were  distinguished  foi 
the  symmetry  of  their  forms ;  the  females  in  par 
ticular  appeared  to  the  Spaniards  to  surpass  all  they 
had  yet  beheld  in  the  New  World  for  grace  and 
beauty.  Neither  did  the  men  display  in  the  least 
degree  that  jealousy  which  prevailed  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  coast ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  permitted 
the  most  frank  and  intimate  intercourse  with  their 
wives  and  daughters. 

By  the  time  the  Spaniards  set  out  on  their  re- 
turn to  the  ship,  the  whole  country  was  aroused, 
pouring  forth  its  population,  male  and  female,  to 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF'  COLUMBUS.  33 


do  them  honor.  Some  bore  them  in  litters  or 
hammocks,  that  they  might  not  be  fatigued  with 
the  journey,  and  happy  was  the  Indian  who  had 
the  honor  of  bearing  a  Spaniard  on  his  shoulders 
across  a  river.  Others  loaded  themselves  with  the 
presents  that  had  been  bestowed  on  their  guests 
consisting  of  rich  plumes,  weapons  of  variou 
kinds,  and  tropical  birds  and  animals.  In  this  way 
they  returned  in  triumphant  procession  to  the 
ships,  the  woods  and  shores  resounding  with  their 
songs  and  shouts. 

Many  of  the  Indians  crowded  into  the  boats 
which  took  the  detachment  to  the  ships ;  others 
put  off  in  canoes,  or  swam  from  shore,  so  that  in 
a  little  while  the  vessels  were  thronged  with  up- 
wards of  a  thousand  wondering  natives.  While 
gazmg  and  marveling  at  the  strange  objects  round 
them,  Ojeda  ordered  the  cannon  to  be  discharged, 
at  the  sound  of  which,  says  Vespucci,  the  Indians 
"  plunged  into  the  water  like  so  many  frogs  from 
a  bank."  Perceiving,  however,  that  it  was  done 
in  harmless  mirth,  they  returned  on  board,  and 
passed  the  rest  of  the  day  in  great  festivity.  The 
Spaniards  brought  away  with  them  several  of  the 
beautiful  and  hospitable  females  from  this  place, 
one  of  whom,  named  by  them  Isabel,  was  much 
prized  by  Ojeda,  and  accompanied  him  in  a  sub- 
sequent voyage.-^ 

1  Navarrete,  torn.  iii.  p.  8.    Idem.  pp.  107,  108. 

[t  is  worth}^  of  particular  mention  that  Ojeda,  in  his  report 
of  his  voyage  to  the  sovereigns,  informed  them  of  his  having* 
met  with  English  voyagers  in  the  vicinity  of  Coquibacoa,  and 
that  the  Spanish  government  attached  such  importance  to 

VOL.  III.  8 


34         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES'  OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROSECUTION  OP  THE  VOYAGE.  —  RETURN  TO  SPAIN. 

Leaving  the  friendly  port  of  Coquibacoa,  Ojeda 
continued  along  the  western  shores  of  the  Gulf 
of  Venezuela,  and  standing  out  to  sea,  and  doub- 
ling Cape  Maracaibo,  he  pursued  his  coasting  voy- 
age  from  port  to  port,  and  promontory  to  promon- 
tory, of  this  unknown  continent,  until  he  reached 
that  long-stretching  head-land  called  Cape  de  la 
Vela.  There  the  state  of  his  vessels,  and  perhaps 
the  disappointment  of  his  hopes  at  not  meeting 
with  abundant  sources  of  immediate  wealth  in- 
duced him  to  abandon  all  further  voyaging  along 
the  coast,  and  changing  his  course,  he  stood  across 
the  Caribbean  Sea  for  Hispaniola.    The  tenor  of 

information  as  to  take  measures  to  prevent  any  intrusion  into 
those  parts  by  the  English.  It  is  singular  that  no  record 
should  exist  of  this  early  and  extensive  expedition  of  English 
navigators.  If  it  was  undertaken  in  the  service  of  the  crown 
some  documents  might  be  found  concerning  it  among  the  ar- 
chives of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  The  English  had  already 
discovered  the  continent  of  North  America.  This  had  been 
done  in  1497,  by  John  Cabot,  a  Venetian,  accompanied  by  his 
son  Sebastian,  who  was  born  in  Bristol.  They  sailed  under 
a  license  of  Henry  VII.,  who  was  to  have  a  fifth  of  the  profits 
of  the  voyage.  On  the  24th  June  they  discovered  Newfound- 
Jand,  and  afterwards  coasted  the  continent  quite  to  Florida, 
bringing  back  to  England  a  valuable  cargo  and  several  of  the 
natives.  This  was  the  first  discovery  of  the  main-land  of 
America.  The  success  of  this  expedition  may  have  prompiea 
the  one  which  Ojeda  encountered  in  the  neighborhood  *f 
Coquibacoa. 


TEE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  35 


Lis  commission  forbade  his  visiting  that  island ; 
but  Ojeda  was  not  a  man  to  stand  upon  trifles 
when  his  interest  or  inchnation  prompted  the  con- 
trary. He  trusted  to  excuse  the  infraction  of  his 
orders  by  the  alleged  necessity  of  touching  at  the 
island  to  calk  and  refit  his  vessels,  and  to  procure 
provisions.  His  true  object,  however,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  to  cut  dye-wood,  which  abounds  in 
the  western  part  of  Hispaniola. 

He  accordingly  anchored  at  Yaquimo  in  Sep- 
tember, and  landed  with  a  large  party  of  his  men. 
Columbus  at  that  time  held  command  of  the  island, 
and  hearing  of  this  unlicensed  intrusion,  dispatched 
Francisco  Roldan,  the  quondam  rebel,  to  call  Ojeda 
to  account.  The  contest  of  stratagem  and  manage- 
ment which  took  place  between  these  two  adroit 
and  daring  adventurers,  has  been  already  detailed 
in  the  History  of  Columbus.  Roldan  was  event- 
ually successful,  and  Ojeda,  being  obliged  to  leave 
Hispaniola,  resumed  his  rambling  voyage,  visiting 
various  islands,  from  whence  he  carried  off  numbers 
of  the  natives.  He  at  length  arrived  at  Cadiz  in 
June,  1500,  with  his  ships  crowded  with  captives, 
whom  he  sold ,  as  slaves.  So  meagre,  however, 
was  the  result  of  this  expedition,  that  we  are  told, 
when  all  the  expenses  were  deducted,  but  five 
hundred  ducats  remained  to  be  divided  between 
fifty-five  adventurers.  What  made  this  result  the 
'nore  mortifying  was,  that  a  petty  armament,  which 
had  sailed  some  tim.e  after  that  of  Ojeda,  had  re- 
turned two  months  before  him,  rich  with  the  spoils 
of  the  New  World.    A  brief  account  of  ilA'^  latt^^y 


36       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC, 


expedition  is  necessary  to  connect  this  series  of 
minor  discoveries,  which  will  be  found  to  lead  to 
enterprises  and  transactions  of  moie  stirring  in- 
terest  a«<?.  importance. 


PEDEO  AlONZO  NI^JO^  AND  CHEISTOVAL 
GUEEKA. 


[1499.] 

HE  permission  granted  by  Bishop  Fon- 
seca  to  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  to  undertake  a 
private  expedition  to  the  New  World, 
roused  the  emulation  of  others  of  the  followers  of 
Columbus.  Among  these  was  Pedro  Alonzo 
Nino,  a  hardy  seaman,  native  of  Moguer,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Palos,  who  had  sailed  with  Columbus, 
as  a  pilot,  in  his  first  voyage,  and  also  in  his 
cruisings  along  the  coasts  of  Cuba  and  Paria.^ 
Pie  soon  obtained  from  the  bishop  a  similar  license 
to  that  given  to  Ojeda,  and  like  the  latter,  sought 
for  some  moneyed  confederate  among  the  rich 
merchants  of  Seville.  One  of  these,  named  Luis 
Guerra,  offered  to  fit  out  a  caravel  for  the  expe- 
dition ;  but  on  condition  that  his  brother,  Chris« 
toval  Guerra,  should  have  the  command.  The 
poverty  of  Nino  compelled  him  to  assent  to  the 
stipulations  of  the  man  of  wealth,  and  he  sailed 

1  Pronounced  Ninyo.  The  N  in  Spanish  is  always  pro- 
uounced  as  if  followed  by  the  letter  y. 

2  Testimony  of  Bastides  in  the  lawsuit  of  Diogo  Columba& 


38         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

as  subaltern  in  his  own  enterprise ;  but  his  nauti- 
cal skill  and  knowledge  soon  gained  him  the 
ascendancy ;  he  became  virtually  the  captain,  and 
ultimately  enjoyed  the  whole  credit  of  the 
voyage. 

The  bark  of  these  two  adventurers  was  but  of 
fifty  tons  kurthen,  and  the  crew  thirty-three  souls, 
all  told.  With  this  slender  armament  they  un- 
dertook to  traverse  unknown  and  dangerous  seas, 
and  to  explore  the  barbarous  shores  of  that 
vast  continent  recently  discovered  by  Columbus ; 
such  was  the  daring  spirit  of  the  Spanish  voy- 
agers of  those  days. 

It  was  about  the  beginning  of  June,  1499,  and 
Imt  a  few  days  after  the  departure  of  Ojeda,  that 
they  put  to  sea.  They  sailed  from  the  little  port 
of  Palos,  the  cradle  of  American  discovery,  whose 
brave  and  skillful  mariners  long  continued  fore- 
most in  all  enterprises  to  the  New  World.  Being 
guided  by  the  chart  of  Columbus,  they  followed 
his  route,  and  reached  the  southern  continent,  a 
little  beyond  Paria,  about  fifteen  days  after  the 
same  coast  had  been  visited  by  Ojeda. 

They  then  proceeded  to  the  Gulf  of  Paria, 
where  they  landed  to  cut  dye-wood,  and  were 
amicably  entertained  by  the  natives.  Shortly 
afterwards,  sallying  from  the  gulf  by  the  Boca  del 
Drago,  they  encountered  eighteen  canoes  of  Ca- 
ribs,  the  pirate  rovers  of  these  seas,  and  the  ter- 
ror of  the  bordering  lands.  This  savage  armada, 
instead  of  being  daunted,  as  usual,  by  the  sight  of 
a  European  ship,  with  swelling  sails,  resembling 
Bome  winged  monster  of  the  deep,  considered  li 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  39 


Dnly  as  an  object  of  plunder  or  hostility,  and  as^ 
sailed  it  with  showers  of  arrow^s.  The  sudden 
burst  of  artillery,  however,  from  the  sides  of  the 
caravel,  and  the  havoc  made  by  the  seeming 
thunder,  struck  them  with  dismay,  and  they  fled 
in  all  directions.  The  Spaniards  succeeded  in 
capturing  one  of  the  canoes,  with  one  of  the 
warriors  who  had  manned  it.  In  the  bottom  of 
the  canoe  lay  an  Indian  prisoner,  bound  hand  and 
foot.  On  being  liberated  he  informed  the  Span- 
iards, by  signs,  that  these  Caribs  had  been  on  a 
marauding  expedition  along  the  neighboring 
coasts,  shutting  themselves  up  at  night  in  a  stock- 
ade which  they  carried  with  them,  and  issuing 
forth  by  day  to  plunder  the  villages  and  make 
captives.  He  had  been  one  of  seven  prisoners ; 
his  companions  had  been  devoured  before  his  eyes 
at  the  cannibal  banquets  of  these  savages,  and  he 
had  been  awaiting  the  same  miserable  fate. 
Honest  Nino  and  his  confederates  were  so  indig- 
nant at  this  recital,  that,  receiving  it  as  established 
fact,  they  performed  what  they  considered  an  act 
of  equitable  justice,  by  abandoning  the  Carib  to 
the  discretion  of  his  late  captive.  The  latter 
fell  upon  the  defenseless  warrior  with  fist,  and 
foot,  and  cudgel ;  nor  did  his  rage  subside  even 
after  the  breath  had  been  mauled  out  of  his  vic- 
tim, but,  tearing  the  grim  head  from  the  body,  he 
placed  it  on  a  pole  as  a  trophy  of  his  vengeance. 

Nino  and  his  fellow-adventurers  now  steered 
for  the  island  of  Margarita,  where  they  obtained 
a  considerable  quantity  of  pearls  by  barter 
They  af'erwards  skirted  the  opposite  coast  of 


iO         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

Cumana,  trading  cautiously  and  shrewdly,  from 
port  to  port ;  sometimes  remaining  on  board  of 
their  little  bark,  and  obliging  the  savages  to  come 
off  to  them,  when  the  latter  appeared  too  numer- 
ous ;  at  other  times  venturing  on  shore,  and  even 
into  the  interior.  They  were  invariably  treated 
with  amity  by  the  natives,  who  were  perfectly 
naked,  excepting  that  they  were  adorned  with 
necklaces  and  bracelets  of  pearls.  These  they 
sometimes  gave  freely  to  the  Spaniards,  at  other 
times  they  exchanged  them  for  glass  beads  and 
other  trinkets,  and  smiled  at  the  folly  of  the 
strangers  in  making  such  silly  bargains.^ 

The  Spaniards  were  struck  with  the  grandeur 
and  density  of  the  forests  along  this  coast;  for 
in  these  regions  of  heat  and  moisture  vegetation 
appears  in  its  utmost  magnificence.  They  heard 
also  the  cries  and  roarings  of  wild  and  unknown 
animals  in  the  woodlands,  w^hich,  however,  ap- 
peared not  to  be  very  dangerous,  as  the  Indians 
went  about  the  forests  armed  solely  with  bows 
and  arrow^s.  From  meeting  with  deer  and  rab- 
bits, they  were  convinced  that  that  was  a  part  of 
Terra  Firma,  not  having  found  any  animals  of 
the  kind  on  the  island.^ 

Nino  and  Guerra,  were  so  well  pleased  wath 
the  hospitality  of  the  natives  of  Cumana,  and 
with  the  profitable  traffic  for  pearls,  by  which 
they  obtained  many  of  great  size  and  beauty^  that 
they  remained  upwards  of  three  months  on  tha 
uoast. 

A  Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  i.  cap.  171 
2  Navarrete,  torn,  iii  «.  14. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS, 


41 


They  then  proceeded  westward  to  a  country 
called  Cauchieto,  tradings  as  usual,  for  pearls,  and 
for  the  inferior  kind  of  gold  called  guanin.  At 
length  they  arrived  at  a  number  of  houses  and 
gardens  situated  on  a  river,  and  protected  by  a 
kind  of  fortress,  the  whole  forming,  to  the  eyes 
of  the  Spaniards,  one  of  the  most  delicious  abodes 
imaginable.  They  were  about  to  land  and  en- 
joy the  pleasures  of  this  paradise,  when  they  be- 
held upwards  of  a  thousand  Indians,  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows,  and  war  clubs,  preparing  to  give 
them  a  warm  reception ;  having  been  probably 
incensed  by  the  recent  visit  of  Ojeda.  As  Nino 
and  Guerra  had  not  the  fighting  propensities  of 
Ojeda,  and  were  in  quest  of  profit  rather  than  re- 
nown, having  moreover,  in  all  probability,  the 
fear  of  the  rich  merchant  of  vSeville  before  their 
eyes,  they  prudently  abstained  from  landing,  and 
abandoning  this  hostile  coast,  returned  forthwith 
to  Cumana,  to  resume  their  trade  for  pearls. 
They  soon  amassed  a  great  number,  many  of 
which  were  equal  in  size  and  beauty  to  the  most 
celebrated  of  the  East,  though  they  had  been  in- 
jured in  boring  from  a  want  of  proper  imple- 
ments. 

Satisfied  with  their  success,  they  now  set  sail 
for  Spain,  and  piloted  their  little  bark  safely  to 
Bayonne  in  Gallicia,  where  they  anchored  about 
the  middle  of  April,  1500,  nearly  two  months 
before  the  arrival  of  Ojeda  and  his  associates,  La 
Cosa  and  Yespucci.^ 

1  Peter  Martyr.  Other  historians  give  a  ditFerent  date  foi 
:iieir  arrival.    Herrera  says  Feb.  6. 


42      VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC 


The  most  successful  voyagers  to  the  New 
World  were  doomed  to  trouble  from  their  very 
success.  The  ample  amount  of  pearls  paid  to  the 
treasury,  as  the  royal  portion  of  the  profits  of 
the  expedition,  drew  suspicion  instead  of  favor 
upon  the  two  adventurers.  They  were  accused 
of  having  concealed  a  great  part  of  the  pearls 
collected  by  them,  thus  defrauding  their  compan- 
ions and  the  crown.  Pedro  Alonzo  Nino  was 
actually  thrown  into  prison  on  this  accusation, 
but  nothing  being  proved  against  him,  he  was 
eventually  set  free,  and  enjoyed  the  enviable  rep- 
utation of  having  performed  the  richest  voyage 
that  had  yet  been  made  to  the  New  World.^ 

1  NaTarrete,  Colec.  torn.  iii.  p.  11.  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib 
h  CAp.  5. 


VICENTE  YANEZ  PINZON. 


MONG  the  maritime  adventurers  of  re- 
nown who  were  roused  to  action  by  the 
licenses  granted  for  private  expeditions 
of  discovery,  we  find  conspicuous  the  name  of 
Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon,  of  Palos,  one  of  the  three 
brave  brothers  who  aided  Cohimbus  in  his  first 
voyage,  and  risked  life  and  fortune  with  him  in 
his  doubtful  and  perilous  enterprise. 

Of  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon,  the  eldest  and 
most  important  of  these  three  brothers,  particular 
mention  has  been  made  in  the  History  of  Colum- 
bus, and  of  the  unfortunate  error  in  conduct 
which  severed  him  from  the  admiral,  brought  on 
him  the  displeasure  of  the  sovereigns,  and  proba- 
bly contributed  to  his  premature  and  melancholy 
death. 

Whatever  cloud  this  may  have  thrown  over 
his  family,  it  was  but  temporary.  The  death  of 
Martin  Alonzo,  as  usual,  atoned  for  his  faults, 
and  his  good  deeds  lived  after  him.  The  merits 
and  services  of  himself  and  his  brothers  were 
acknowledged,  and  the  survivors  of  the  family 
were  restored  to  royal  confidence.  A  feeling 
of  jeal:>us  hostility  prevented  them  from  taking 
a  part  in  the  subsequent  voyages  of  Columbus 


44         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


but  the  moment  the  door  was  thrown  open  foi 
individual  enterprise,  they  pressed  forward  for 
permission  to  engage  in  it  at  their  own  risk  and 
expense  —  and  it  was  readily  granted.  In  fact, 
their  supposed  hostility  to  Columbus  was  one  of 
the  surest  recommendations  to  the  favor  of  the 
Bishop  Fonseca,  by  whom  the  license  was  issued 
for  their  expedition. 

Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon  was  the  leader  of  this 
new  enterprise,  and  he  was  accompanied  by  two 
nephews,  Arias  Perez  and  Diego  Fernandez,  sons 
of  his  late  brother,  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon.  Sev- 
eral of  his  sailors  had  sailed  with  Columbus  in 
his  recent  voyage  to  Paria,  as  had  also  his  three 
principal  pilots,  Juan  Quintero,  Juan  de  Umbria, 
and  Juan  de  Jerez.  Thus  these  minor  voyages 
seemed  all  to  emanate  from  the  great  expeditions 
of  Columbus,  and  to  aim  at  realizing  the  ideas 
and  speculations  contained  in  the  papers  trans- 
mitted by  him  to  Spain. 

The  armament  consisted  of  four  caravels,  and 
was  fitted  out  at  the  port  of  Palos.  The  funds 
of  Vicente  Yanez  were  completely  exhausted  be- 
fore he  had  fitted  out  his  little  squadron  ;  he  was 
obliged,  therefore,  to  purchase  on  credit  the  sea- 
stores  and  articles  of  traffic  necessary  for  the 
enterprise.  The  merchants  of  Palos  seem  to 
have  known  how  to  profit  by  the  careless  nature 
of  sailors  and  the  sanguine  spirit  of  discoverers. 
In  their  bargains  they  charged  honest  Pinzon 
eighty  and  a  hundred  per  cent,  above  the  market 
value  of  their  merchandise,  and  in  the  hurry  and 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  45 


urgency  of  the  moment  he  was  obliged  to  submit 
CO  the  imposition.^ 

The  squadron  put  to  sea  in  the  beginning  of 
December,  1499,  and  after  passing  the  Canary 
and  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  stood  to  the  south- 
west. Having  sailed  about  seven  hundred  leagues, 
they  crossed  the  equator  and  lost  sight  of  the 
north  star.  They  had  scarcely  passed  the  equi- 
noctial line  when  they  encountered  a  terrible 
tempest,  which  had  vv^ell  nigh  swallowed  up  their 
slender  barks.  The  storm  passed  away,  and  the 
firmament  was  again  serene ;  but  the  mariners 
remained  tossing  about  in  confusion,  dismayed  by 
the  turbulence  of  the  waves  and  the  strange  as- 
pect of  the  heavens.  They  looked  in  vain  to  the 
south  for  some  polar  star  by  which  to  shape  their 
course,  and  fancied  that  some  swelling  prominence 
of  the  globe  concealed  it  from  their  view.  They 
knew  nothing  as  yet  of  the  firmament  of  that 
hemisphere,  nor  of  that  beautiful  constellation,  the 
southern  cross,  but  expected  to  find  a  guiding 
star  at  the  opposite  pole,  similar  to  the  cynosure 
of  the  north. 

Pinzon,  however,  who  was  of  an  intrepid  spirit, 
pursued  his  course  resolutely  to  the  west,  and  after 
sailing  about  two  hundred  and  forty  leagues,  and 
being  in  the  eighth  degree  of  southern  latitude,  he 
beheld  land  afar  off  on  the  28th  of  January,  to 
i\4iich  he  gave  the  name  of  Santa  Maria  de  la 
ConsoJacion.  from  the  sight  of  it  having  consoled 
him  in  the  midst  of  doubts  and  perplexities.  It 

1  Navarrete,  vol.  iii.  See  Doc.  No.  7,  where  Vincente 
Yaiiez  Pinzon  petitions  for  redress. 


4G         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


is  now  called  Cape  St.  Augustine,  and  forms  the 
most  prominent  part  of  the  immense  empire  of 
Brazil. 

The  sea  was  turbid  and  discolored  as  in  riv- 
ers, and  on  sounding  they  had  sixteen  fathoms 
water.  Pinzon  landed,  accompanied  by  a  notary 
and  witnesses,  and  took  formal  possession  of  tho 
territory  for  the  Castilian  crown  ;  no  one  appeared 
to  dispute  his  pretensions,  but  he  observed  on  the 
beach  the  print  of  footsteps,  of  gigantic  size. 

At  night  there  were  fires  lighted  upon  a  neigh- 
boring part  of  the  coast,  which  induced  Pinzou 
on  the  following  morning  to  send  forty  men  well 
armed  to  the  spot.  A  band  of  Indians,  of  about 
equal  number,  sallied  forth  to  encounter  them, 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  seemingly  of 
extraordinary  stature.  A  still  greater  number 
were  seen  in  the  distance,  hastening  to  the  support 
of  their  companions.  The  Indians  arrayed  them- 
selves for  combat,  and  the  two  parties  remained 
for  a  short  time  eyeing  each  other  with  mutual 
curiosity  and  distrust.  The  Spaniards  now  dis- 
played looking-glasses,  beads,  and  other  trinkets, 
and  jingled  strings  of  hawks' -bells,  in  general  so 
captivating  to  an  Indian  ear ;  but  the  haughty 
savages  treated  all  their  overtures  with  contempt, 
regarding  these  offerings  carelessly  for  a  short 
time,  and  then  stalking  off  with  stoic  gravity. 
They  were  ferocious  of  feature,  and  apparently 
warlike  in  disposition,  and  are  supposed  to  have 
been  a  wandering  race  of  unusual  size,  who 
roamed  about  in  the  night,  and  were  of  the  most 
fierce,  untractable  nature.  By  nightfall  there  wrvS 
act  an  Indian  to  be  seen  in  the  neighborhood. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  47 


Discouraged  by  the  inhospitable  character  of 
the  coast,  Pinzon  made  sail  and  stood  to  the 
north-west,  until  he  came  to  the  mouth  of  a  river 
too  shallow  to  receive  his  ships.  Here  he  sent 
his  boats  on  shore  with  a  number  of  men  well 
armed.  They  landed  on  the  river  banks,  and  be- 
held a  multitude  of  naked  Indians  on  a  neighbor* 
ing  hill.  A  single  Spaniard,  armed  simply  with 
sword  and  buckler,  was  sent  to  invite  them  to 
friendly  intercourse.  He  approached  them  with 
signs  of  amity,  and  threw  to  them  a  hawk's-bell. 
They  replied  to  him  with  similar  signs,  and  threw 
to  him  a  small  gilded  wand.  The  soldier  stooped 
to  pick  it  up,  when  suddenly  a  troop  of  savages 
rushed  down  to  seize  him ;  he  threw  himself  im- 
mediately upon  the  defensive,  with  sword  and  tar- 
get, and  though  but  a  smail  man,  and  far  from 
robust,  handled  his  weapons  with  such  dexterity 
and  fierceness  that  he  kept  the  savages  at  bay, 
making  a  clear  circle  around  him,  and  wounding 
several  who  attempted  to  break  it.  His  unlooked- 
for  prowess  surprised  and  confounded  his  assail- 
ants, and  gave  time  for  his  comrades  to  come  to 
his  assistance.  The  Indians  then  made  a  general 
assault,  with  such  a  galling  discharge  of  darts  and 
arrows,  that  almost  immediately  eight  or  ten 
Spaniards  were  slain,  and  many  more  wounded. 
Tlie  latter  were  compelled  to  retreat  to  their  boats, 
disputing  every  inch  of  ground.  The  Indians 
pursued  them  even  into  the  water,  surrounding 
the  boats  and  seizing  hold  of  the  oars.  The 
Spaniards  made  a  desperate  defense,  thrusting 
many  through  with  their  lances,  and  cutting  dowi? 


48 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


RiA  ripping  up  others  with  their  swords,  but  such 
was  the  ferocity  of  the  survivors,  that  they  per- 
sisted in  their  attack  until  they  overpowered  the 
crew  of  one  of  the  boats,  and  bore  it  off  in 
tinumph.  With  this  they  retired  from  the  com- 
bat, and  the  Spaniards  returned  defeated  and  dis- 
heartened to  their  ships,  having  met  with  the 
roughest  reception  that  the  Europeans  had  yet 
experienced  in  the  New  AVorld. 

Pinzon  now  stood  forty  leagues  to  the  north- 
west, until  he^arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
equinoctial  line.  Here  he  found  the  water  of  the 
sea  so  fresh  that  he  was  enabled  to  replenish  his 
casks  with  it.  Astonished  at  so  singular  a  phe- 
nomenon, he  stood  in  for  the  land,  and  arrived 
among  a  number  of  fresh  and  verdant  islands, 
inhabited  br  a  gentle  and  hospitable  race  of  peo- 
ple, gayly  painted,  who  came  off  to  the  ships  with 
the  most  frank  and  fearless  confidence.  Pinzon 
soon  found  that  these  islands  lay  in  the  mouth  of 
an  immense  river,  more  than  thirty  leagues  in 
breadth,  the  water  of  which  entered  upward  of 
forty  leagues  into  the  sea  before  losing  its  sweet- 
ness. It  was,  in  fact,  the  renowned  Maranoii, 
since  known  as  the  Orellana  and  the  Amazon. 
While  lying  in  the  mouth  of  this  river,  there  was 
a  sudden  swelling  of  the  stream,  which,  being 
opposed  by  the  current  of  the  sea,  and  straitened 
by  the  narrow  channels  of  the  islands,  rose  more 
than  five  fathoms,  with  mountain  waves,  and  a 
tremendous  noise,  threatening  the  destruction  of 
the  ships.  Pinzon  extricated  his  little  squadron 
with  great  difficulty,  and  finding  there  was  but 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  45 


little  gold,  nor  anything  else  of  value  to  be  found 
among  the  simple  natives,  he  requited  their  hospi- 
tality, in  the  mode  too  common  among  the  early 
discoverers,  by  carrying  off  thirty-six  of  them 
captive. 

Having  regained  the  sight  of  the  polar  star, 
Pinzon  pursued  his  course  along  the  coast,  passing 
the  mouths  of  the  Oronoko,  and  entering  the  Gulf 
of  Paria,  where  he  landed  and  cut  brazil-wood. 
Sallying  forth  hy  the  Boca  del  Drago,  he  reached 
the  island  of  Hispaniola  about  the  23d  of  June, 
whence  he  sailed  for  the  Bahamas.  Here,  in  the 
month  of  July,  while  at  anchor,  there  came  such 
a  tremendous  hurricane  that  two  of  the  caravels 
were  swallowed  up  with  all  their  crews  in  the 
sight  of  their  terrified  companions  ;  a  third  parted 
her  cables  and  was  driven  out  to  sea,  while  the 
fourth  was  so  furiously  beaten  by  the  tempest  that 
the  crew  threw  themselves  into  the  boats  and 
made  for  shore.  Here  they  found  a  few  naked  In- 
dians, who  offered  them  no  molestation  ;  but,  fear- 
ing that  they  might  spread  the  tidings  of  a  handful 
of  shipwrecked  Spaniards  being  upon  the  coast, 
and  thus  bring  the  savages  of  the  neighboring 
islands  upon  them,  a  council  of  war  was  held, 
whether  it  would  not  be  a  wise  precaution  to  put 
these  Indians  to  deaths  Fortunately  for  the  lat- 
ter, the  vessel  which  had  been  driven  from  her 
anchors  returned,  and  put  an  end  to  the  alarm, 
and  to  the  council  of  war.  The  other  caravel 
also  rode  out  the  storm  uninjured,  and  tho  sea 
subsiding,  the  Spaniards  returned  on  board,  and 
made  the  best  of  their  way  to  the  island  of  His 

VOL.  III.  4 


50 


^nYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


paniola.  Having  repaired  the  damages  sustained 
in  tiie  gale,  they  again  made  sail  for  Spain,  and 
came  to  anchor  in  the  river  before  Palos,  about 
the  end  of .  September. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  checkered  and  dis- 
astrous voyages  yet  made  to  the  New  Worlds 
Yanez  Pinzon  had  lost  two  of  his  ships,  and  many 
of  his  men ;  what  made  the  loss  of  the  latter 
more  grevious  was,  that  they  had  been  enlisted 
from  among  his  neighbors,  his  friends,  and  rela- 
tives. In  fact,  the  expeditions  to  the  New  World 
must  have  realized  the  terrors  and  apprehensions 
of  the  people  of  Palos  by  filling  that  little  com- 
munity with  widows  and  orphans.  When  the 
rich  merchants,  who  had  sold  goods  to  Pinzon  at 
a  hundred  per  cent,  advance,  beheld  him  return 
in  this  sorry  condition,  with  two  shattered  barks, 
and  a  handful  of  poor,  tattered,  weather-beaten 
seamen,  they  began  to  tremble  for  their  money. 
No  sooner,  therefore,  had  he  and  his  nephews  de- 
parted to  Granada,  to  give  an  account  of  their 
discoveries  to  the  sovereigns,  than  the  merchants 
seized  upon  their  caravels  and  cargoes,  and  began 
to  sell  them,  to  repay  themselves.  Honest  Pin- 
zon immediately  addressed  a  petition  to  the  gov- 
ernment, stating  the  imposition  practised  upon  him, 
and  the  danger  he  w^as  in  of  imprisonment  and 
utter  ruin,  should  his  creditors  be  allowed  to  sac- 
rifice his  goods  at  a  public  sale.  He  petitioned 
cnat  they  might  be  compelled  to  return  the  prop- 
erty thus  seized,  and  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
sell  three  hundred  and  fifty  quintals  of  brazil- 
woo<l,  which  he  had  brought  back  with  him,  aad 


TflE  COMPANIONS  Of''  COLUMBUS  51 


w^liicli  would  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  demands 
of  liis  creditors.  The  sovereigns  granted  his 
prayer.  They  issued  an  order  to  the  civil  author- 
ities of  Palos  to  interfere  in  tHe  matter,  with  all 
possible  promptness  and  brevity,  allowing  no  vex- 
atious delay,  and  administenng  justice  so  impar- 
tially that  neither  of  the  parties  should  have  cause 
to  complain. 

Pinzon  escaped  from  the  fangs  of  his  creditors, 
but,  of  course,  must  have  suffered  in  purse  from 
the  expenses  of  the  law  ;  which,  in  Spain,  is  apt 
to  bury  even  a  successful  client  under  an  over- 
whelminor  mountain  of  documents  and  writinojs. 
We  infer  this  in  respect  to  Pinzon  from  a  royal 
order  issued  in  the  following  year,  allowing  him 
to  export  a  quantity  of  grain,  in  consideration  of 
the  heavy  losses  he  had  sustained  in  his  voyage 
of  discovery.  He  did  but  share  the  usual  lot  of 
the  Spanish  discoverers,  whose  golden  anticipa- 
tions too  frequently  ended  in  penury  ;  but  he  is 
distinguished  from  among  the  crowd  of  them  by 
being  the  first  European  who  crossed  the  equi- 
noctial line,  on  the  western  ocean,  and  by  discov 
ering  the  great  kingdom  of  Brazil.^ 

1  On  the  5tli  of  September,  1501,  a  royal  permission  was 
given  to  Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon  to  colonize  and  govern  the 
lands  he  had  discovered,  beginning  a  little  north  of  the  river 
Amazon,  and  extending  to  Cape  St.  Augustine.  The  object 
cf  the  government  in  this  permission  was  to  establish  an  out- 
post and  a  resolute  commander  on  this  southern  fiontier,  to 
clieck  any  intrusion  the  Portuguese  might  make  in  conse- 
quence of  the  accidental  discovery  of  a  part  of  the  coast  of 
Brazil  by  Pedro  Alvarez  Cabral,  in  1500.  The  subsequent 
arrangement  of  a  partition  line  between  the  two  countriei 


52 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC. 


prevented  the  necessity  of  this  precaution,  and  it  does  not 
appear  that  Vicente  Yaiiez  Pinzon  made  any  second  voyage  to 
those  parts. 

In  1506  he  undertook  an  expedition  in  company  with  Juan 
Diaz  de  Solis,  a  native  of  Lebrija,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
endeavor  to  find  the  strait  or  passage  supposed  by  Columbus 
to  lead  from  the  Atlantic  to  a  Southern  Ocean.  It  was  neces- 
sarily without  success,  as  was  also  another  voyage  made  by 
them,  for  the  same  purpose,  in  1508.  As  no  such  passage  ex- 
ists, no  blame  could  attach  to  those  able  navigators  for  being 
foiled  in  the  object  of  their  search. 

In  consequence  of  the  distinguished  merits  and  services  of 
the  Pinzon  family,  they  were  raised  by  the  Emperor  Charlee 
V.  to  the  dignity  of  a  Hidalgufa,  or  nobility,  without  any  ex- 
press title,  and  a  coat  of  arms  was  granted  them,  on  which 
were  emblazoned  three  caravels,  with  a  hand  at  the  stern 
pointing  to  an  island  covered  with  savages.  This  coat  of  arms 
is  still  maintained  by  the  family,  who  have  added  to  it  the 
motto  granted  to  Columbus,  merely  substituting  the  name  of 
Pin  jon  for  that  of  the  admiral, 

A  Castile  y  a  Leon, 
Nuevo  Mundo  dio  Pinzoa. 


DIEGO  DE  LEPE  AND  EODEIGO  DE  BASTIDES, 


[1500.] 

OTWITHSTANDING  the  hardships 
and  disasters  that  had  beset  the  voy- 
agers to  the  New  World,  and  the 
penury  in  which  their  golden  anticipations  had 
too  frequently  terminated,  adventurers  continued 
to  press  forward,  excited  by  fresh  reports  of 
newly-discovered  regions,  each  in  its  turn  repre- 
sented as  the  real  land  of  promise.  Scarcely  had 
Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon  departed  on  the  voyage 
recently  narrated,  when  his  townsman  Diego  de 
Lepe  likewise  set  sail  with  two  vessels  from  the 
busy  little  port  of  Palos,  on  a  like  expedition. 
No  particulars  of  importance  are  known  of  this 
voyage,  excepting  that  Lepe  doubled  Cape  St. 
Augustine,  and  beheld  the  southern  continent 
stretching  far  to  the  south-west.  On  returning  to 
Spain,  he  drew  a  chart  of  the  coast  for  the  Bishop 
Fonseca,  and  enjoyed  the  reputation,  for  upwards 
of  ten  years  afterwards,  of  having  extended  his 
discoveries  further  south  than  any  other  voyager. 
Another  contemporary  adventurer  to  the  New 


54         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


World,  was  Roderigo  de  Bastides,  a  wealthy 
notary  of  Triana,  the  suburb  of  Seville,  inhabited 
by  the  maritime  part  of  its  population.  Being 
Banctioned  by  the  sovereigns,  to  whom  he  en- 
gaged to  yield  a  fourth  of  his  profits,  he  fitted 
out  two  caravels  in  October,  1500,  to  go  in  quest 
of  gold  and  pearls. 

Prudently  distrusting  his  own  judgment  in 
nautical  matters,  this  adventurous  notary  asso- 
ciated with  him  the  veteran  pilot  Juan  de  la 
Cosa,  the  same  hardy  Biscayan  who  had  sailed 
with  Columbus  and  Ojeda.  A  general  outline 
of  their  voyage  has  already  been  given  in  the 
life  of  Columbus ;  it  extended  the  discove^'ies  of 
the  coast  of  Terra  Firma  from  Cape  de  la  Vela, 
where  Ojeda  had  left  off,  quite  to  the  port  of 
Nombre  de  Dios. 

Bastides  distinguished  himself  from  the  mass 
of  discoverers,  by  his  kind  treatment  of  the 
natives,  and  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  by  his  sound  dis- 
cretion and  his  able  seamanship.  Their  voyage 
had  been  extremely  successful,  and  they  had  col- 
lected, by  barter,  a  great  amount  of  gold  and 
pearls,  when  their  prosperous  career  was  checked 
by  an  unlooked-for  evil.  Their  vessels,  to  their 
surprise,  became  leaky  in  every  part,  and  they 
discovered,  to  their  dismay,  that  the  bottoms 
were  pierced  in  innumerable  places  by  the 
broma,  or  worm,  which  abounds  in  the  waters  of 
the  torrid  zone,  but  of  which  they,  as  yet,  had 
scarcely  any  knowledge.  It  was  with  great 
difficulty  tliey  could  keep  afloat  until  they 
reached  a  small  islet  on  the  coast  of  Hispanioliu 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  55 


Here  they  repaired  their  ships  as  well  as  they 
were  able,  and  again  put  to  sea  to  return  to 
Cadiz.  A  succession  of  gales  drove  them  back 
to  port ;  the  ravages  of  the  worms  continued,  the 
leaks  broke  out  afresh ;  they  landed  the  most 
portable  and  precious  part  of  their  wealthy 
cargoes,  and  the  vessels  foundered  with  the 
remainder.  Bastides  lost,  moreover,  the  arms 
and  ammunition  saved  from  the  wreck,  being 
obliged  to  destroy  them  lest  they  should  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  Indians. 

Distributing  his  men  into  three  bands,  two  of 
them  headed  by  La  Cosa  and  himself,  they  set 
off  for  San  Domingo  by  three  several  routes,  as 
the  country  was  not  able  to  furnish  provisions 
for  so  large  a  body.  Each  band  was  provided 
with  a  coffer  stored  with  trinkets  and  other 
articles  of  Indian  traffic,  with  which  to  buy  pro- 
visions on  the  road. 

Francisco  de  Bobadilla,  the  wrong-headed 
oppressor  and  superseder  of  Columbus,  was  at 
that  time  governor  of  San  Domingo.  The 
report  reached  him  that  a  crew  of  adventurers 
had  landed  on  the  island,  and  were  marching 
through  the  country  in  three  bands,  each  pro- 
vided with  a  coffer  of  gold,  and  carrying  on 
illicit  trade  with  the  natives.  The  moment  Bas- 
tides made  his  appearance,  therefore,  he  was 
eeized  and  thrown  into  prison,  and  an  investiga- 
tion commenced.  In  his  defense  he  maintained 
that  his  only  traffic  with  the  natives  was  for  the 
purpose  of  procuring  provisions  for  his  followers, 
or  guides  for  his  journey.    It  was  determined. 


56       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC, 


however,  to  send  him  to  Spain  for  trial,  with  th« 
written  testimony  and  the  other  documents  of  his 
examination. 

He  was  accordingly  conveyed  in  the  same 
fleet  in  which  Bobadilla  embarked  for  Spain,  and 
which  experienced  such  an  awful  shipwreck  in 
tlie  sight  of  Columbus.  The  ship  of  Rodrigo 
Bastides  was  one  of  the  few  which  outlived  the 
tempest :  it  arrived  safe  at  Cadiz  in  September, 
1502.  Bastides  was  ultimately  acquitted  of  the 
charges  advanced  against  him.  So  lucrative  had 
been  his  voyage,  that,  notwithstanding  the  losses 
sustained  by  the  foundering  of  his  vessels,  he  was 
enabled  to  pay  a  large  sum  to  the  crown  as  a 
fourth  of  his  profits,  and  to  retain  a  great  amount 
for  himself.  In  reward  of  his  services  and  dis- 
coveries the  sovereigns  granted  him  an  annual 
revenue  for  life,  to  arise  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
province  of  Uraba,  which  he  had  discovered. 
An  equal  pension  was  likewise  assigned  to  the 
hardy  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  to  result  from  the  same 
territory,  of  which  he  was  appointed  alguazil 
mayor.^  Such  was  the  economical  generosity  of 
King  Ferdinand,  who  rewarded  the  past  toils  of 
his  adventurous  discoverers  out  of  the  expected 
produce  of  their  future  labors. 

Nivarrete,  Colec.  torn.  iii. 

I 


SECOND  VOYAGE  OP  ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 


[1502.] 

HE  first  voyage  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  to  the 
coast  of  Paria,  and  its  meagre  termin- 
ation in  June,  1500,  has  been  related. 
He  gained  nothing  in  wealth  by  that  expedition, 
but  he  added  to  his  celebrity  as  a  bold  and 
skillful  adventurer.  His  youthful  fire,  his  san- 
guine and  swelling  spirit,  and  the  wonderful 
stories  told  of  his  activity  and  prowess,  made  him 
extremely  popular,  so  that  his  patron  the  Bishop 
Fonseca  found  it  an  easy  matter  to  secure  for 
him  the  royal  favor.  In  consideration  of  his 
past  services  and  of  others  expected  from  him,  a 
grant  was  made  to  him  of  six  leagues  of  land  on 
the  southern  part  of  Hispaniola,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  province  of  Coquibacoa  which  he  had 
discovered.  He  was,  furthermore,  authorized  to 
fit  out  any  number  of  ships,  not  exceeding  ten, 
at  his  own  expense,  and  to  prosecute  the  dis- 
covery of  the  coast  of  Terra  Firma.  He  was 
not  to  touch  or  traffic  on  the  pearl  coast  of 
Paria    extending  as  far  as  a  bay  in  the  vicinity 


58 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


of  the  island  of  Margarita.  Beyond  this  he  had 
a  right  to  trade  in  all  kinds  of  merchandise, 
whether  of  pearls,  jewels,  metals,  or  precious 
stones ;  paying  one  fifth  of  the  profits  to  the 
crown,  and  abstaining  from  making  slaves  of  the 
Indians  without  a  special  license  from  the  sover- 
eigns. He  was  to  colonize  Coquibacoa,  and,  as 
a  recompense,  was  to  enjoy  one  half  of  the 
proceeds  of  his  territory,  provided  the  half  did 
not  exceed  300,000  niaravedies :  all  beyond  that 
amount  was  to  go  to  the  crown. 

A  principal  reason,  however,  for  granting  this 
government  and  those  privileges  to  Ojeda,  was 
that,  in  his  previous  voyage,  he  had  met  with 
English  adventurers  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Coquibacoa,  at  which  the 
jealousy  of  the  sovereigns  had  taken  the  alarm. 
They  were  anxious,  therefore,  to  establish  a  reso- 
lute fighting  commander  like  Ojeda  upon  this  out- 
post, and  they  instructed  him  to  set  up  the  arms 
of  Castile  and  Leon  in  every  place  he  visited,  as 
a  signal  of  discovery  and  possession,  and  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  intrusions  of  the  English.^ 

With  this  commission  in  his  pocket,  and  the 
government  of  an  Indian  territory  in  the  perspec- 
tive, Ojeda  soon  found  associates  to  aid  him  in 
fitting  out  an  armament.  These  were  Juan  de 
Yergara,  a  servant  of  a  rich  canon  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  Seville,  and  Garcia  de  Campos,  commonly 
called  Ocampo.  They  made  a  contract  of  part- 
nership to  last  two  years,  according  to  which  the 
expenses  and  profits  of  the  expedition,  and  of  the 
1  Navarrete,  torn.  iii.  Document  x. 


TnE  COMPANIONS  Oh  COLUMBUS.  59 


goveriHiieiit  of  Coquibacoa,  were  to  be  shared 
equally  between  them.  The  purses  of  tlie  con- 
federates were  not  ample  enough  to  afford  ten 
ships,  but  they  fitted  out  four.  1st,  The  Santa 
Maria  de  la  Antigua,  commanded  by  Garcia  del 
Campo  ;  2d,  The  Santa  Maria  de  la  Granada, 
commanded  by  Juan  de  Vergara  ;  3d,  The  cara- 
vel Magdalena,  commanded  by  Pedro  de  Ojeda, 
nephew  to  Alonzo ;  and  4th,  The  caravel  Santa 
Ana,  commanded  by  Hernando  de  Guevara.  The 
whole  was  under  the  command  of  Alonzo  de 
Ojeda.  The  expedition  set  sail  in  1502,  touched 
at  the  Canaries,  according  to  custom,  to  take  in 
provisions,  and  then  proceeded  westward  for  the 
shores  of  the  New  World. 

After  traversing  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  and  before 
reaching  the  island  of  Margarita,  the  caravel 
Santa  Ana,  commanded  by  Hernando  de  Guevara, 
was  separated  from  them,  and  for  several  days  the 
ships  were  mutually  seeking  each  other  in  these 
silent  and  trackless  seas.  After  they  were  all  re- 
united they  found  their  provisions  growing  scanty, 
they  landed  therefore  at  a  part  of  the  coast  called 
Cumana  by  the  natives,  but  to  which,  from  its 
beauty  and  fertility,  Ojeda  gave  the  name  of 
Valfermosa.  While  foraging  here  for  their  im- 
mediate supplies,  the  idea  occurred  to  Ojeda  that 
he  should  want  furniture  and  utensils  of  all  kinds 
for  his  proposed  colony,  and  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter to  pillage  them  from  a  country  where  he  was 
R  mere  transient  visitor,  than  to  wrest  them  from 
his  neighbors  in  the  territory  where  he  was  to  set 
up  his  government.    His  companions  were  struck 


60 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


with  the  policy,  if  not  the  justice  of  this  idea, 
and  they  all  set  to  work  to  carry  it  into  execu- 
tion. Dispersing  themselves,  therefore,  in  am- 
bush in  various  directions,  they  at  a  concerted 
signal  rushed  forth  from  their  concealment,  and 
set  upon  the  natives.  Ojeda  had  issued  orders  to 
do  as  little  injury  and  damage  as  possible,  and  on 
no  account  to  destroy  tlie  habitations  of  the  In- 
dians. His  followers,  however,  in  their  great  zeal, 
transcended  his  orders.  Seven  or  eight  Indians 
were  killed  and  many  wounded  in  the  skirmish 
which  took  place,  and  a  number  of  their  cab- 
ins were  wrapped  in  flames.  A  great  quan- 
tity of  hammocks,  of  cotton,  and  of  utensils  of 
various  kinds,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conquer- 
ors ;  they  also  captured  several  female  Indians, 
frome  of  whom  were  ransomed  with  the  kind  of 
gold  called  guanin ;  some  were  retained  by  Ver- 
gara  for  himself  and  his  friend  Ocampo,  others 
were  distributed  among  the  crews,  the  rest,  prob- 
ably the  old  and  ugly,  were  set  at  liberty.  As 
to  Ojeda,  he  reserved  nothing  for  himself  of  the 
spoil  excepting  a  single  hammock. 

The  ransom  paid  by  the  poor  Indians  for  some 
of  their  effects  and  some  of  their  women,  yielded 
ilie  Spaniards  a  trifling  quantity  of  gold,  but  they 
found  the  place  destitute  of  provisions,  and  Ojeda 
was  obliged  to  dispatch  Vergara  in  a  caravel  to 
the  island  of  Jamaica  to  forage  for  supplies,  with 
instructions  to  rejoin  him  at  Maracaibo  or  Cape 
de  la  Vela. 

Ojeda  at  length  arrived  at  Coquibacoa,  at  the 
port  destined  for  his  seat  of  government.  He 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  61 

found  the  country,  however,  so  poor  and  sterile, 
that  he  proceeded  along  the  coast  to  a  bay,  which 
he  named  Santa  Cruz,  but  which  is  supposed  to 
be  the  same  at  present  called  Bahia  Honda, 
where  he  found  a  Spaniard  who  had  been  left  in 
the  province  of  Citarma  by  Bastides  in  his  late 
voyage,  about  thirteen  months  before,  and  had 
remained  ever  since  among  the  Indians,  so  that 
he  had  acquired  their  language. 

Ojeda  determined  to  form  a  settlement  at  this 
place  ;  but  the  natives  seemed  disposed  to  defend 
their  territory,  for  the  moment  the  party  landed 
to  procure  water,  they  were  assailed  by  a  galling 
shower  of  arrows,  and  driven  back  to  the  ships. 
Upon  this  Ojeda  landed  with  all  his  force,  and 
struck  such  terror  into  the  Indians,  that  they 
came  forward  with  signs  of  amity,  and  brought  a 
considerable  quantity  of  gold  as  a  peace-offering, 
which  w^as  graciously  accepted. 

Ojeda,  with  the  concurrence  of  his  associates, 
now  set  to  work  to  establish  a  settlement,  cutting 
down  trees,  and  commencing  a  fortress.  They 
had  scarce  begun,  when  they  were  attacked  by  a 
neighboring  cacique,  but  Ojeda  sallied  forth  upon 
him  with  such  intrepidity  and  effect  as  not  merely 
to  defeat,  but  to  drive  him  from  the  neighborhood. 
He  then  proceeded  quietly  to  finish  his  fortress, 
which  was  defended  by  bombards,  and  contained 
the  magazine  of  provisions,  and  the  treasure 
amassed  in  the  expedition.  The  provisions  were 
dealt  out  twice  a  day,  under  the  inspection  of 
proper  officers  ;  the  treasure,  gained  by  barter, 
by  ransom,  or  by  plunder,  w^as  deposited   in  a 


62         VOYAGES  JND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Strong  box  secured  by  two  locks,  one  key  being 
kept  by  the  royal  supervisor,  the  other  by 
Ocampo. 

In  the  mean  time  provisions  became  scarce. 
The  Indians  never  appeared  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  fortress,  except  to  harass  it  vrith  repeated 
though  ineffectual  assaults.  Vergara  did  not  ap- 
pear with  the  expected  supplies  from  Jamaica, 
and  a  caravel  was  dispatched  in  search  of  him. 
The  people,  vv^orn  out  with  labor  and  privations 
of  various  kinds,  and  disgusted  with  the  situation 
of  the  settlement,  which  was  in  a  poor  and  un- 
healthy country,  grew  discontented  and  factious. 
They  began  to  fear  that  they  should  lose  the 
means  of  departing,  as  their  vessels  w^ere  in  dan- 
ger of  being  destroyed  by  the  broma  or  worms. 
Ojeda  led  them  forth  repeatedly  upon  foraging 
parties  about  the  adjacent  country,  and  collected 
some  provisions  and  booty  in  the  Indian  villages. 
The  provisions  he  deposited  in  the  magazine,  part 
of  the  spoils  he  divided  among  his  followers,  and 
the  gold  he  locked  up  in  the  strong  box,  the 
keys  of  which  he  took  possession  of  to  the  great 
displeasure  of  the  supervisor  and  his  associate 
Ocampo.  The  murmurs  of  the  people  grew  loud 
as  their  sufferings  increased.  They  insinuated 
that  Ojeda  had  no  authority  over  this  part  of  the 
coast,  having  passed  the  boundaries  of  his  gov* 
ernment,  and  formed  his  settlement  in  the  country 
discovered  by  Bastides.  By  the  time  Yergara 
arrived  from  Jamaica,  the  factions  of  this  petty 
colony  had  risen  to  an  alarming  height.  Ocampo 
bad  a  personal  enmity  to  the  governor,  arising 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUAfBUS,  G3 


probably  from  some  feud  about  the  strong  box  ; 
being  a  particular  friend  of  Vergara,  he  held  a 
private  conference  with  him,  and  laid  a  plan  to 
entrap  the  doughty  Ojeda.  lu  pursuance  of  this, 
the  latter  was  invited  on  board  of  the  caravel  of 
Vergara,  to  see  the  provisions  he  had  brought 
from  Jamaica;  but  no  sooner  was  he  on  board 
than  they  charged  him  with  having  transgressed 
the  limits  of  his  government,  with  having  pro- 
voked the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  and  heedlessly 
sacrificed  the  lives  of  his  followers,  and  above  all, 
with  having  taken  posession  of  the  strong  box,  in 
contempt  of  the  authority  of  the  royal  supervisor, 
and  with  the  intention  of  appropriating  to  him- 
self all  the  gains  of  the  enterprise  ;  they  informed 
him,  therefore,  of  their  intention  to  convey  him 
a  prisoner  to  Hispaniola,  to  answer  to  the  governor 
for  his  offenses.  Ojeda,  finding  himself  thus  en- 
trapped, proposed  to  Vergara  and  Ocampo  that 
they  should  return  to  Spain  with  such  of  the 
crews  as  chose  to  accompany  them,  leaving  him 
with  the  remainder  to  prosecute  his  enterprise. 
The  two  recreant  partners  at  first  consented,  for 
they  were  disgusted  with  the  enterprise,  which 
offered  little  profit  and  severe  hardships.  They 
agreed  to  leave  Ojeda  the  smallest  of  the  cara- 
vels, with  a  third  of  the  provisions  and  of  their 
gains,  and  to  build  a  row-boat  for  him.  They 
actually  began  to  labor  upon  the  boat.  Before 
ten  days  had  elapsed,  however,  they  repented  of 
their  arrangement ;  the  ship-carpenters  were  ill, 
there  were  no  calkers,  and,  moreover,  they  recol- 
lected that  as  Ojeda,  according  to  their  represer. 


64         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


tations,  was  a  defaulter  to  the  crown,  they  would 
be  liable  as  his  sureties,  should  they  return  to 
Sjiain  without  him.  They  concluded,  therefore, 
that  the  wisest  plan  was  to  give  him  nothing,  but 
to  carry  him  off  a  prisoner. 

When  Ojeda  learned  the  determination  of  his 
wary  partners,  he  attempted  to  make  his  escape, 
and  get  off  to  San  Domingo ;  but  he  was  seized, 
thrown  in  irons,  and  conveyed  on  board  of  the 
caravel.  The  two  partners  then  set  sail  from 
Santa  Cruz  bearing  off  the  whole  community,  its 
captive  governor,  and  the  Ungated  strong  box. 

They  put  to  sea  about  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, and  arrived  at  the  western  part  of  the 
island  of  Hispaniola.  While  at  anchor,  within 
a  stone's  throw  of  the  land,  Ojeda,  confident  in 
his  strength  and  skill  as  a  swimmer,  let  himself 
quietly  slide  down  the  side  of  the  ship  into  the 
water  during  the  night,  and  attempted  to  swim 
for  the  shore.  His  arms  were  free,  but  his  feet 
were  shackled,  and  the  weight  of  his  irons  threat- 
ened to  sink  him.  He  was  obliged  to  shout  for 
help ;  a  boat  was  sent  from  the  vessel  to  his 
relief,  and  the  unfortunate  governor  was  brought 
back  half  drowned  to  his  unrelenting  partners.^ 

The  latter  now  landed,  and  delivered  their 
prisoner  into  the  hands  of  Gallego,  the  com- 
mander of  the  place,  to  be  put  at  the  disposal 
Df  the  governor  of  the  island.  In  the  mean 
\ime,  the  strong  box,  which  appears  to  have 
been  at  the  bottom  of  all  these  feuds,  remained 
in  the  possession  of  Vergara  and  Ocampo,  who, 
1  Hist.  Gen.  de  Viages.    Herrera,  Hist.  Ind. 


7 HE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  G5 


Ojeila  says,  took  from  it  whatever  they  thought 
proper,  without  regard  to  the  royal  dues,  or  the 
consent  of  the  royal  supervisor.  They  were  all 
together,  prisoner  and  accusers,  in  the  city  of 
San  Domingo,  about  the  end  of  September,  1502, 
when  the  chief  judge  of  the  island,  after  hearing 
both  parties,  gave  a  verdict  against  Ojeda,  that 
stripped  him  of  all  his  effects,  and  brought  him 
into  debt  to  the  crown  for  the  royal  proportion 
of  the  profits  of  the  voyage.  Ojeda  appealed  to 
the  sovereign,  and,  after  some  time,  was  honor- 
ably acquitted,  by  the  royal  council,  from  all  the 
charges ;  and  a  mandate  was  issued  in  1503, 
ordering  a  restitution  of  his  property.  It 
appears,  however,  that  the  costs  of  justice,  or 
rather  of  the  law,  consumed  his  share  of  the 
treasure  of  the  strong  box,  and  that  a  royal  order 
was  necessary  to  liberate  him  from  the  hands  of 
the  governor ;  so  that  like  too  many  other 
litigants,  he  finally  emerged  from  the  labyrinths 
of  the  law  a  triumphant  client,  but  a  ruined  man, 


VOL.  III.  5 


THIED  VOYAGE  OP  ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 


CHAPTER  1. 

OJEDA  APPLIES  FOR  A  COMMAND.  — HAS  A  RIVAL  CAN- 
DID  ATE  IN  DIEGO  DE  NICUESA.  — HIS  SUCCESS. 

OE  several  years  after  his  ruinous,  though 
successful  lawsuit,  we  lose  all  traces  of 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  excepting  that  we  are 
told  he  made  another  voyage  to  the  vicinity  of 
Coquibacoa,  in  1505.  No  record  remains  of  this 
expedition,  which  seems  to  have  been  equally 
unprofitable  with  the  preceding,  for  we  find  him 
in  1508,  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  as  poor  in 
purse,  though  as  proud  in  spirit,  as  ever.  In 
fact,  however  fortune  might  have  favored  him,  he 
had  a  heedless,  squandering  disposition  that  would 
always  have  kept  him  poor. 

About  this  time  the  cupidity  of  King  Ferdinand 
was  greatly  excited  by  the  accounts  given  by 
Columbus  of  the  gold  mines  of  Yeragua,  in 
which  the  admiral  fancied  he  had  discovered  the 
Aurea  Chersonesus  of  the  ancients,  whence  King 
Solomon  procured  the  gold  used  in  building  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem.    Subsequent  voyagers  had 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC  67 


corroborated  the  opinion  of  Columbus  as  to  the 
general  riches  of  the  coast  of  Terra  Firma ; 
King  Ferdinand  resolved,  therefore,  to  found 
regular  colonies  along  that  coast,  and  to  place  the 
whole  under  some  capable  commander.  A  project 
of  the  kind  had  been  conceived  by  Columbus, 
when  he  discovered  that  region  in  the  course  of 
his  last  voyage,  and  the  reader  may  remember 
the  disasters  experienced  by  his  brother  Doi> 
Bartholomew  and  himself,  in  endeavoring  te 
establish  a  colony  on  the  hostile  shores  of 
Veragua.  The  admiral  being  dead,  the  person 
who  should  naturally  have  presented  himself  to 
the  mind  of  the  sovereign  for  this  particular  ser- 
vice, was  Don  Bartholomew ;  but  the  w^ary  and 
selfish  monarch  knew  the  Adelantado  to  be  as 
lofty  in  his  terms  as  his  late  brother,  and  pre- 
ferred to  accomplish  his  purposes  by  cheaper 
agents.  He  was  unwilling,  also,  to  increase  the 
consequence  of  a  family,  whose  vast  but  just 
claims  were  already  a  cause  of  repining  to  his 
Bordid  and  jealous  spirit.  He  looked  round, 
therefore,  among  the  crowd  of  adventurers  who 
had  sprung  up  in  the  school  of  Columbus,  for 
some  individual  ready  to  serve  him  on  more 
accommodating  terms.  Among  those,  considered 
by  their  friends  as  most  fitted  for  this  purpose, 
was  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  for  his  roving  voyages  and 
daring  exploits  had  made  him  famous  among  the 
voyagers  ;  and  it  was  thought  that  an  application 
on  his  part  would  be  attended  with  success,  aa 
he  possessed  a  stanch  friend  at  cDurt  in  the 
Bishop  Fonseca.    Unfortunately  he  was  too  fa? 


68         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


distant  to  urge  his  suit  to  the  bishop,  and  what 
was  worse,  he  was  destitute  of  money.  At  this 
juncture  there  happened  to  be  at  Hispaniola  the 
veteran  navigator  and  pilot,  Juan  de  la  Cosa, 
who  was  a  kind  of  Nestor  in  all  nautical  affairs.-^ 
The  hardy  Biscayan  had  sailed  with  Ojeda,  and 
had  conceived  a  great  opinion  of  the  courage  and 
talents  of  the  youthful  adventurer.  He  had  con- 
trived, also,  to  fill  his  purse  in  the  course  of  his 
cruising,  and  now,  in  the  generous  spirit  of  a 
sailor,  offered  to  aid  Ojeda  with  it  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  wishes. 

His  offer  was  gladly  accepted ;  it  was  agreed 
that  Juan  de  la  Cosa  should  depart  for  Spain,  to 
promote  the  appointment  of  Ojeda  to  the  command 
of  Terra  Firma,  and,  in  case  of  success,  should 
fit  out,  with  his  own  funds,  the  necessary  arma- 
ment. 

La  Cosa  departed  on  his  embassy ;  he  called 
on  the  Bishop  Fonseca,  who,  as  had  been  ex- 
pected, entered  warmly  into  the  views  of  his 
favorite  Ojeda,  and  recommended  him  to  the 

1  Peter  Martyr  gives  the  following  weighty  testimony  to 
the  knowledge  and  skill  of  this  excellent  seamen:  —  "Of 
the  Spaniards,  as  many  as  thought  themselves  to  have  any 
knowledge  of  what  pertained  to  measure  the  land  and  sea, 
drew  cardes  (charts)  on  parchment  as  concerning  these  nav- 
igations. Of  all  others  they  most  esteem  them  which  Juan 
de  la  Cosa,  the  companion  of  Ojeda,  and  another  pilot,  called 
Andres  Morales,  had  set  forth,  and  this,  as  well  for  the  great 
experience  which  hoth  had,  {to  whom  these  tracks  were  as  well 
\nown  as  the  chambers  of  their  own  house^)  as  also  that  they 
were  thought  to  be  cunninger  in  that  part  of  cosmography 
ivhich  teacheth  the  description  and  measuring  of  the  sea."- 
P.  Mart'/r,  decad.  ii.,  cap.  10. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  G9 


Rinbitious  and  bigot  king,  as  a  man  well  fitted  to 
promote  his  empire  in  the  wilderness,  and  to  dis- 
pense the  blessings  of  Christianity  among  the 
savages. 

The  recommendation  of  the  bishop  was  usually 
effectual  in  the  affairs  of  the  New  World,  and 
the  opinion  of  the  veteran  de  la  Cosa  had  great 
weight  even  with  the  sovereign ;  but  a  rival  can- 
didate to  Ojeda  had  presented  himself,  and  one 
who  had  the  advantages  of  higher  connections 
and  greater  pecuniary  means.  Tliis  was  Diego 
de  Nicuesa,  an  accomplished  courtier  of  noble 
biith,  who  had  filled  the  post  of  grand  carver  to 
Don  Enrique  Enriquez,  uncle  of  the  king. 
Nature,  education,  and  habit  combined  to  form 
Nicuesa  a  complete  rival  of  Ojeda.  Like  him, 
he  was  small  of  stature,  but  remarkable  for 
symmetry  and  compactness  of  form,  and  for 
bodily  strength  and  activity ;  like  him  he  was 
master  at  all  kinds  of  weapons,  and  skilled,  not 
merely  in  feats  of  agility,  but  in  those  graceful 
and  chivalrous  exercises,  which  the  Spanish  cava- 
liers of  those  days  inherited  from  the  Moors ; 
being  noted  for  his  vigor  and  address  in  the 
jousts  or  tilting  matches  after  the  Moresco 
fashion.  Ojeda  himself  could  not  surpass  him  in 
feats  of  horsemanship,  and  particular  mention  is 
made  of  a  favorite  mare,  which  he  could  make 
•japer  and  caracole  in  strict  cadence  to  the  sound 
of  a  viol ;  besides  all  this,  he  was  versed  in  ihi^ 
egendary  ballads  or  romances  of  his  country,  and 
vvas  renowned  as  a  capital  performer  on  tho 
guitar!    Such  were  the  qualifications  of  thia 


70 


VOVAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


candidate  for  a  command  in  the  wilderness,  as 
enumerated  by  the  reverend  Bishop  Las  Casas- 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  he  had  given  evi- 
dence of  qualities  more  adapted  to  the  desired 
post ;  having  already  been  out  to  Hispaniola  in 
the  military  train  of  the  late  Governor  Ovando. 

Where  merits  were  so  singularly  balanced  aa 
those  of  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  it  might  have  been 
difficult  to  decide ;  King  Ferdinand  avoided  the 
dilemma  by  favoring  both ;  not  indeed  by  fur- 
nishing them  with  ships  and  money,  but  by 
granting  patents  and  dignities,  which  cost  noth- 
ing, and  might  bring  rich  returns.  He  divided 
that  part  of  the  continent  which  lies  along  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien  into  two  provinces,  the  bound- 
ary line  running  through  the  Gulf  of  Uraba. 
The  eastern  part,  extending  to  Cape  de  la  Vela, 
was  called  New  Andalusia,  and  the  government 
of  it  given  to  Ojeda.  The  other  to  the  wes%  in- 
cluding Yeragua,  and  reaching  to  Cape  Gracias 
a  Dios,  was  assigned  to  Nicuesa.  The  island  of 
Jamaica  was  given  to  the  two  governors  in 
common,  as  a  place  whence  to  draw  supplies  of 
provisions.  Each  of  the  governors  was  to  erect 
two  fortresses  in  his  district,  and  to  enjoy  for  ten 
years  the  profits  of  all  the  mines  he  should  dis- 
cover, paying  to  the  crown  oine  tenth  part  the 
first  year,  one  ninth  the  second,  one  eighth  the 
third,  one  seventh  the  fourth,  and  one  fifth  in 
each  of  the  remaining  years. 

Juan  de  la  Cosa,  who  had  been  indefatigable 
In  promoting  the  suit  of  Ojeda,  was  appointed 
his  lieutenant  in  the  government^  with  the  pos< 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  71 

algiiazil  mayor  of  the  province.  He  imme- 
diately freighted  a  ship  and  two  brigantines,  in 
which  he  embarked  with  about  two  hundred 
men.  It  was  a  slender  armament,  but  the  purse 
of  the  honest  voyager  was  not  very  deep,  and  that 
of  Ojeda  was  empty.  Nicuesa,  having  amplei 
means,  armed  four  large  vessels  and  two  brigan- 
tines,  furnished  them  with  abundant  munitions 
and  supplies,  both  for  the  voyage  and  the  pro- 
jected colony,  enlisted  a  much  greater  force,  and 
set  sail  in  gay  and  vaunting  style  for  the  golden 
shores  of  Veragua,  the  Aurea  Chersonesus  of  his 
imagination. 


CHAPTER  11. 

FEUD  BETWEEN  THE  RIVAL   GOVERNORS   OJEDA  AND 
NICUESA.— A  CHALLENGE. 

[1509.] 

The  two  rival  armaments  arrived  at  San  Do- 
mingo about  the  same  time.  Nicuesa  had  expe- 
rienced what  was  doubtless  considered  a  pleasant 
little  turn  of  fortune  by  the  way.  Touching  at 
Santa  Cruz,  one  of  the  Caribbee  Islands,  he  had 
succeeded  in  capturing  a  hundred  of  the  natives, 
whom  he  had  borne  off  in  his  ships  to  be  sold  as 
slaves  at  Hispaniola.  This  was  deemed  justi- 
Sable  in  those  days,  even  by  the  most  scrupulous 
divines,  from  the  belief  that  the  Caribs  were  all 
Anthropophagi,  or  man-eaters ;  fortunately  the 


72         VOYACrES  AND  DISCJVERIES  CF 

opinion  of  mankind,  in  this  more  enlightened  age, 
makes  but  little  difference  in  atrocity  between 
the  cannibal  and  the  kidnapper. 

Alonzo  de  Ojeda  welcomed  with  joy  the  ar- 
rival of  his  nautical  friend  and  future  lieutenant 
in  the  government,  the  worthy  Juan  de  la  Cosa; 
still  he  could  not  but  feel  some  mortification  at 
the  inferiority  of  his  armament  to  that  of  his 
rival  Nicuesa,  whose  stately  ships  rode  proudly  at 
anchor  m  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo.  He  felt, 
too,  that  his  means  were  inadequate  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  intended  colony.  Ojeda,  how- 
ever, was  not  long  at  a  loss  for  pecuniary  as- 
sistance. Like  many  free-spirited  men,  who  are 
careless  and  squandering  of  their  own  purses,  he 
had  a  facility  in  commanding  the  purses  of 
his  neighbors.  Among  ihe  motley  population 
of  San  Domingo  there  was  a  lawyer  of  some 
ability,  the  Bachelor  Martin  Fernandez  de  Enciso, 
who  had  made  two  thousand  castillanos  by  his 
pleading ;  ^  for  it  would  appear  that  the  spirit  of 
litigation  was  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  civilized 
life  transplanted  to  the  New  World,  and  flour- 
ished surprisingly  among  the  Spanish  colonists. 

Alonzo  de  Ojeda  became  acquainted  with  the 
Bachelor,  and  finding  him  to  be  of  a  restless  and 
speculative  character,  soon  succeeded  in  inspiring 
him  with  a  contempt  for  the  dull  but  secure  and 
profitable  routine  of  his  office  in  San  Domingo, 
and  imbuing  him  with  his  own  passion  for  ad- 
venture. Above  all,  he  dazzled  him  with  the 
ofler  to  make  him  alcalde  mayor,  or  chief  judge 
A  Equivalent  to  10,050  dollars  of  the  present  day. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  73 


of  the  provincial  government  he  was  about  to  es* 
tablish  in  the  wilderness. 

In  an  evil  hour  the  aspiring  Bachelor  yielded 
to  the  temptation,  and  agreed  to  invest  all  his 
money  in  the  enterprise.  It  was  arranged  that 
Ojeda  should  depart  with  the  armament  which 
liad  arrived  from  Spain,  while  the  Bachelor 
should  remain  at  Hispaniola  to  beat  up  for  re 
cruits  and  provide  supplies ;  with  these  he  was  to 
embark  in  a  ship  purchased  by  himself,  and  pro- 
ceed to  join  his  high-mettled  friend  at  the  seat 
of  his  intended  colony.  Two  rival  governors,  so 
well  matched  as  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  and  both 
possessed  of  swelling  spirits,  pent  up  in  small 
but  active  bodies,  could  not  remain  long  in  a  lit- 
tle place  like  San  Domingo  without  some  col- 
lision. The  island  of  Jamaica,  which  had  been 
assigned  to  them  in  common,  furnished  the  first 
ground  of  contention  ;  the  provmce  of  Darien 
furnished  another,  each  pretending  to  include  it 
withm  the  limits  of  his  jurisdiction.  Their  dis- 
putes on  these  points  ran  so  high  that  the  whole 
place  resounded  with  them.  In  talking,  how- 
ever, Nicuesa  had  the  advantage  ;  having  been 
brought  up  in  the  court,  he  was  more  polished 
and  ceremonious,  had  greater  self-command,  and 
probably  perplexed  his  rival  governor  in  argu- 
ment. Ojeda  was  no  great  casuist,  but  he  was 
an  excellent  swordsman,  and  always  ready  to 
fight  his  way  through  any  question  of  right  or 
dignity  which  he  could  not  clearly  argue  with  the 
tongue ;  so  he  proposed  to  settle  the  dispute  by 
single  combat.    Nicuesa,  though  equajly  brave, 


74 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


was  more  a  man  of  the  world,  and  saw  the  foil}' 
of  such  arbitrament.  Secretly  smiling  at  the 
heat  of  his  antagonist,  he  proposed  as  a  prelim- 
inary to  the  duel,  and  to  furnish  something 
worth  fighting  for,  that  each  should  deposit  five 
thousand  castillanos,  to  be  the  prize  of  the  victor. 
This,  as  he  foresaw,  was  a  temporary  check  upon 
the  fiery  valor  of  his  rival,  who  did  not  possess 
a  pistole  in  his  treasury  ;  but  probably  was  too 
proud  to  confess  it. 

It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  the  impetuous 
spirit  of  Ojeda  would  long  have  remained  in 
check,  had  not  the  discreet  Juan  de  la  Cosa  in- 
terposed to  calm  it.  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
the  great  ascendency  possessed  by  this  veteran 
navigator  over  his  fiery  associate.  Juan  de  la 
Cosa  was  a  man  whose  strong  natural  good  sense 
had  been  quickened  by  long  and  hard  experi- 
ence ;  whose  courage  was  above  all  question,  but 
tempered  by  time  and  trial.  He  seems  to  have 
been  personally  attached  to  Ojeda,  as  veterans 
who  have  outlived  the  rash  impulse  of  youthful 
valor,  are  apt  to  love  the  fiery  quality  in  their 
younger  associates.  So  long  as  he  accompanied 
Ojeda  in  his  enterprises,  he  stood  by  him  as  a 
Mentor  in  council,  and  a  devoted  partisan  in 
danger. 

In  the  present  instance,  the  interference  of  this 
veteran  of  the  seas  had  the  most  salutary  effect  • 
he  prevented  the  impendmg  duel  of  the  rival 
governors,  and  persuaded  them  to  agree  that 
the  river  Darien  should  be  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween their  respective  jurisdictions. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  lOLUMBUS.  75 

The  dispute  relative  to  Jamaica  was  settled  by 
tlie  admiral,  Don  Diego  Columbus,  himself.  He 
had  already  felt  aggrieved  by  the  distribution  of 
these  governments  by  the  king  without  his  con- 
sent or  even  knowledge,  being  contrary  to  the 
Drivileo'es  inherited  from  his  father,  the  discoy- 
erer.  It  was  in  vain  to  contend,  however,  when 
the  matter  was  beyond  his  reach,  and  involved 
in  technical  disputes.  But  as  to  the  island  of 
Jamaica,  it  in  a  manner  lay  at  his  own  door, 
and  he  could  not  brook  its  bemg  made  a  matter 
of  gift  to  these  brawling  governors.  Without 
waiting  the  slow  and  uncertain  course  of  making 
remonstrances  to  the  king,  he  took  the  affair,  as 
a  matter  of  plain  right,  into  his  own  hands,  and 
offered  a  brave  officer,  Juan  del  Esquibel,  the 
same  who  had  subjugated  the  province  of  Higuey, 
to  take  possession  of  that  island,  with  seventy 
men,  and  to  hold  it  subject  to  his  command. 

Ojeda  did  not  hear  of  this  arrangement  until 
m  w^s  on  the  point  of  embarking  to  make  sail. 
In  the  heat  of  the  moment  he  loudly  defied  the 
power  of  the  admiral,  and  swore  that  if  he  ever 
found  Juan  de  Esquibel  on  the  island  of  Jamaica, 
he  would  strike  off  his  head.  The  populace 
present  heard  this  menace,  and  had  too  thorough 
an  idea  of  the  fiery  and  daring  character  of  Ojeda 
to  doubt  that  he  would  carry  it  into  effect. 
Notwithstanding  his  bravado,  however,  Juan  de 
Esquibel  proceeded  according  to  his  orders  to 
take  possession  of  the  island  of  Jamaica. 

The  squadron  of  Nicuesa  lingered  for  some 
'>ime  after  the  sailing  of  his  rival.    His  courteous 


76         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


and  engaging  manners,  aided  by  the  rumor  rf 
great  riches  in  the  province  of  Veragiia,  whera 
he  intended  to  found  his  colony,  had  drawn 
numerous  volunteers  to  his  standard,  insomuch 
that  he  had  to  purchase  another  ship  to  convey 
them. 

Nicuesa  was  more  of  the  courtier  and  the  cav- 
alier, than  the  man  of  business,  and  had  no  skill 
in  managing  his  pecuniary  affairs.  He  had  ex- 
pended his  funds  with  a  lavish  hand,  and  in- 
volved himself  in  debts  which  he  had  not  the 
immediate  means  of  paying.  Many  of  his  cred- 
itors knew  that  his  expedition  was  regarded  with 
an  evil  eye  by  the  admiral,  Don  Diego  Colum- 
bus ;  to  gain  favor  with  the  latter,  therefore,  they 
threw  all  kinds  of  impediments  in  the  way  of 
Nicuesa.  Never  was  an  unfortunate  gentleman 
more  harassed  and  distracted  by  duns  and  de- 
mands, one  plucking  at  his  skirts  as  soon  as 
another  was  satisfied.  He  succeeded,  however, 
in  getting  all  his  forces  embarked.  He  had 
seven  hundred  men,  well  chosen  and  armed, 
together  with  six  horses.  He  chose  Lope  de 
Olano  to  be  his  captain-general,  a  seemingly  im- 
politic appointment,  as  this  Olano  had  been  con- 
cerned with  the  notorious  Roldan  in  his  rebellion 
against  Columbus. 

The  squadron  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  and  pus 
to  sea,  excepting  one  ship,  which,  with  anchor 
atrip  and  sails  unfurled,  waited  to  receive 
Nicuesa,  who  was  detained  on  shore  until  the 
last  moment  by  the  perlexities  artfully  multiplied 
ftiound  him. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  71 

Just  as  he  was  on  the  pomt  of  stepping  hito 
his  boat  he  was  arrested  by  the  harpies  of  the 
law,  and  carried  before  iie  alcalde  mayor,  to 
answer  a  demand  for  five  hundred  ducats,  which 
he  was  ordered  to  pay  on  the  spot,  or  prepare  to 
go  to  prison. 

This  was  a  thunder-stroke  to  the  unfortunate 
cavalier.  In  vain  he  represented  his  utter  in- 
capacity to  furnish  such  a  sum  at  the  moment ; 
in  vain  he  represented  the  ruin  that  would  accrue 
to  himself,  and  the  vast  injury  to  the  public 
service,  should  he  be  prevented  from  joining  his 
expedition.  The  alcalde  mayor  was  inflexible, 
and  Nicuesa  was  reduced  to  despair.  At  this 
critical  moment  relief  came  from  a  most  unex- 
pected quarter.  The  heart  of  a  public  notary 
was  melted  by  his  distress !  He  stepped  forward 
in  court,  and  declared  that  rather  than  see  so 
gallant  a  gentleman  reduced  to  extremity,  he 
himself  would  pay  down  the  money.  Nicuesa 
gazed  at  him  with  astonishment,  and  could  scarce 
believe  his  senses ;  but  when  he  saw  him  actually 
pay  off  the  debt,  and  found  himself  suddenly 
released  from  this  dreadful  embarrassment,  he 
embraced  liis  deliverer  with  tears  of  gratitude, 
and  hastened  with  all  speed  to  embark,  lest  some 
other  legal  spell  should  be  laid  uj  on  his  person. 


78         FOYAG£S  AND  DISCOVEKIES  OF 


CHAPTER  III. 

EXPLOITS  AND  DISASTERS  OF  OJEDA  ON  THE  COAST  03 
CARTHAGENA  -  FATE  OF  THE  VETERAN  JUAN  DB  Li 
COSA. 

[1509.] 

It  was  on  the  10th  of  November,  1509,  that 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda  set  sail  from  San  Domingo  with 
two  ships,  two  brigantines,  and  three  hundred 
men.  He  took  with  him  also  twelve  brood 
mares.  Among  the  remarkable  adventurers  who 
embarked  with  him  was  Francisco  Pizarro,  after- 
wards renowned  as  the  conqueror  of  Peru.^ 
Hernando  Cortez  had  likewise  intended  to  sail 
hi  the  expedition,  but  was  prevented  by  an  in- 
flammation in  one  of  his  knees. 

1  Frarx  sco  Pizarro  was  a  native  of  Truxillo  in  Estre- 
madura.  tie  was  the  illegitimate  fruit  of  an  amour  between 
Gonsalvo  Pizarro,  a  veteran  captain  of  infantr^^,  and  a  damsel 
in  low  lif  I  His  childhood  was  passed  in  grovelling  occupations 
incident  to  the  humble  condition  of  his  mother,  and  he  is  said 
to  have  been  a  swineherd.  When  he  had  sufficiently  in- 
creased in  years  and  stature,  he  enlisted  as  a  soldier.  His 
first  campaigns  may  have  been  against  the  Moors  in  the  war 
of  Grenada.  He  certainly  served  in  Italy  under  the  banner 
of  the  Great  Captain,  Gonsalvo  of  Cordova.  His  roving 
spirit  then  induced  him  to  join  the  bands  of  adventurers  to 
the  New  World.  He  was  of  ferocious  courage,  and,  when 
engaged  in  any  enterprise,  possessed  an  obstinate  persever- 
ance neither  to  be  deterred  by  danger,  weakened  by  fatigue 
and  hardship,  nor  checked  by  repeated  disappointment. 
After  having  conquered  the  great  kingdom  of  Peru,  he  was 
assassinated,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1541,  defe Ad ing  himself 
bravely  to  the  last. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  79 

The  voyage  was  speedy  and  prosperous,  and 
they  arrived  late  in  the  autumn  m  the  harbor 
of  Carthagena.  The  veteran  Juan  de  la  Cosa 
was  well  acquainted  with  this  place,  having 
Bailed  as  pilot  with  Rodrigo  de  Bastides,  at  the 
time  he  discovered  it  in  1501.  He  warned 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda  to  be  upon  his  guard,  as  the 
natives  were  a  brave  and  warlike  race,  of  Carib 
origin,  far  different  from  the  soft  and  gentle 
inhabitants  of  the  islands.  They  wielded  great 
swords  of  palm-wood,  defended  themselves  with 
osier  targets,  and  dipped  their  arrows  in  a  subtle 
poison.  The  women,  as  well  as  the  men, 
mingled  in  battle,  being  expert  in  drawing  the 
bow  and  throwing  a  species  of  lance  called  the 
azagay.  The  warning  was  well  timed,  for  the 
Indians  of  these  parts  had  been  irritated  by  the 
misconduct  of  previous  adventurers,  and  flew  to 
arms  on  the  first  appearance  of  the  ships. 

Juan  de  la  Cosa  now  feared  for  the  safety  of 
the  enterprise  in  wliich  he  had  person,  fortune, 
and  official  dignity  at  stake.  He  earnestly  ad- 
vised Ojeda  to  abandon  this  dangerous  neighbor- 
hood, and  to  commence  a  settlement  in  the  Gulf 
of  Uraba,  where  the  people  were  less  ferocious^ 
and  did  not  use  poisoned  weapons.  Ojeda  was 
too  proud  of  spirit  to  alter  his  plans  through  fear 
of  a  naked  foe.  It  is  thought,  too,  that  he  had 
no  objection  to  a  skirmish,  being  desirous  of  a 
pretext  to  make  slaves,  to  be  sent  to  Hispaniola 
in  discharge  of  the  debts  he  had  left  unpaid.^ 
He  landed,  therefore,  with  a  considerable  part  of 
1  Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  57,  MS. 


80         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


his  force,  and  a  number  of  friars,  who  liad  been 
Bent  out  to  convert  the  Indians.  His  faithful 
lieutenant,  being  unable  to  keep  liim  out  of 
danger,  stood  by  to  second  him. 

Ojeda  advanced  towards  the  savages,  an3 
ordered  the  friars  to  read  aloud  a  certain 
formula,  recently  digested  by  profound  jurists 
and  divines  in  Spain.  It  began  in  stately  form 
"  I,  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  servant  of  the  most  high 
and  mighty  sovereigns  of  Castile  and  Leon, 
conquerors  of  barbarous  nations,  their  messenger 
and  captain,  do  notify  unto  you  and  make  you 
know,  in  the  best  way  I  can,  that  God  our  Lord, 
one  and  eternal,  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth,  and  one  man  and  one  woman,  from  whom 
you  and  we  and  all  the  people  of  the  earth  pro- 
ceeded and  are  descendants,  as  well  us  all  those 
who  shall  come  hereafter."  The  formula  then 
went  on  to  declare  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Catholic  Faith ;  the  supreme  power  given  to 
St.  Peter  over  the  world  and  all  the  human  race, 
and  exercised  by  his  representative  the  Pope ; 
the  donation  made  by  a  late  Pope  of  all  this  part 
of  the  world  and  all  its  inhabitants  to  the  Catholic 
sovereigns  of  Castile ;  and  the  ready  obedience 
already  paid  by  many  of  its  lands,  and  islands, 
and  people,  to  the  agents  and  representatives  of 
those  sovereigns.  It  called  upon  those  savages 
present,  therefore,  to  do  the  same ;  to  acknowl- 
edge the  truth  of  the  Christian  doctrines,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Catholic  King ;  but  in  case  of  refusal,  de- 
aounced  upon  them  all  the  horrors  of  war,  the 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  81 


desolation  of  their  dwellings,  the  seizure  of  their 
property,  and  the  slavery  of  their  wives  and 
children.  Such  was  the  extraordinary  document, 
which,  from  this  time  forward,  was  read  by  the 
Spanish  discoverers  to  the  wondering  savages  of 
any  newly -found  countr}'^,  as  a  prelude  to  sanctify 
the  violence  about  to  be  inflicted  on  them.^ 

When  the  friars  had  read  this  pious  manifesto, 
Ojeda  made  signs  of  amity  to  the  natives,  and 
held  up  glittering  presents.  They  had  already 
suffered,  however,  from  the  cruelties  of  white 
men,  and  were  not  to  be  won  by  kindness.  On 
the  contrary,  they  brandished  their  weapons, 
sounded  their  conchs,  and  prepared  to  make 
battle. 

Juan  de  la  Cosa  saw  the  rising  choler  of  Ojeda, 
[and  knew  his  fiery  impatience.  He  again  en- 
treated him  to  abandon  these  hostile  shores,  and 
reminded  him  of  the  venomous  weapons  of  the 
enemy.  It  was  all  in  vain  :  Ojeda  confided  blmd- 
ly  in  the  protection  of  the  Virgin.  Putting  up, 
as  usual,  a  short  prayer  to  his  patroness,  he  drew 
his  weapon,  braced  his  buckler,  and  charged  fu- 
riously upon  the  savages.  Juan  de  la  Cosa  fol- 
lowed as  heartily  as  if  the  battle  had  been  of  his 
own  seeking.  The  Indians  vrere  soon  routed,  a 
number  killed,  and  several  taken  prisoners  ;  on 
their  persons  were  found  plates  of  gold,  but  of  an 
inferior  quality.  Flushed  by  this  triumph,  Ojeda 
took  several  of  the  prisoners  as  guides,  and  pur- 
sued the  flying  enemy  four  leagues  into  the  inte- 

1  The  reader  will  find  the  complete  form  of  this  curioua 
manifesto  in  the  Appendix. 
VOL  HI  6 


82         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

rior.  lie  was  followed,  as  usual,  by  his  faithful 
lieutenant,  the  veteran  La  Cosa,  continually  re- 
monstrating against  this  useless  temerity,  but 
hardily  seconding  him  in  the  most  hare-brained 
perils.  Having  penetrated  far  into  the  forest, 
they  came  to  a  stronghold  of  the  enemy,  where  a 
numerous  force  was  ready  to  receive  them,  armed 
with  clubs,  lances,  arrows,  and  bucklers.  Ojeda 
led  his  men  to  the  charge  with  the  old  Castilian 
war  cry,  "  Santiago  !  "  The  savages  soon  took  to 
flight.  Eight  of  their  bravest  warriors  threw 
themselves  into  a  cabin,  and  plied  their  bows  and 
arrows  so  vigorously,  that  the  Spaniards  were 
kept  at  bay.  Ojeda  cried  shame  upon  his  follow- 
ers to  be  daunted  by  eight  naked  men.  Stung 
by  this  reproach,  an  old  Castilian  soldier  rushed 
through  a  shower  of  arrows  and  forced  the  door 
of  the  cabin,  but  received  a  shaft  through  the 
heart,  and  fell  dead  on  the  threshold.  Ojeda,  fu- 
rious at  the  sight,  ordered  fire  to  be  set  to  the 
combustible  edifice ;  in  a  moment  it  was  in  a 
blaze,  and  the  eight  warriors  perished  in  the 
flames. 

Seventy  Indians  were  made  captive  and  sent  to 
the  shi23S,  and  Ojeda,  regardless  of  the  remon- 
strances of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  continued  his  rash 
pursuit  of  the  fugitives  through  the  forest.  In 
the  dusk  of  the  evening  they  arrived  at  a  village 
called  Yurbaco  ;  the  inhabitants  of  which  had  fled 
to  the  mountains  with  their  wives  and  children, 
and  principal  effects.  The  Spaniards,  imagining 
that  the  Indians  were  completely  terrified  and  dis- 
persed, now  roved  in  quest  of  booty  among  the 


THE  COMPANIONS  OB'  C0LIMBU8,  83 


deserte<l  houses^  which  stood  distant  from  each 
other,  buried  among  the  trees.  While  they  were 
thus  scattered,  troops  of  savages  rushed  forth, 
with  furious  yells,  from  all  parts  of  the  forest. 
The  Spaniards  endeavored  to  gather  together  and 
support  each  other,  but  every  little  party  were 
surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes.  They  fought  with 
desperate  bravery,  but  for  once  their  valor  and 
their  iron  armor  were  of  no  avail ;  they  were 
overwhelmed  by  numbers,  and  sank  beneath  wai 
clubs  and  poisoned  arrows. 

Ojeda  on  the  first  alarm  collected  a  few  sol- 
diers, and  ensconced  himself  within  a  small  in- 
closure,  surrounded  by  palisades.  Here  he  was 
closely  besieged,  and  galled  by  flights  arrows. 
He  threw  himself  on  his  knees,  covered  himseli 
with  his  buckler,  and,  being  small  and  active,  man- 
aged to  protect  himself  from  the  deadly  shower  ; 
but  all  his  companions  were  slain  by  his  side, 
some  of  them  perishing  in  frightful  agonies.  At 
this  fearful  moment  the  veteran  La  Cosa,  having 
heard  of  the  peril  of  his  commander,  arrived  with 
a  few  followers  to  his  assistance.  Stationing  him- 
self at  the  gate  of  the  palisades,  the  brave  Bis- 
cayan  kept  the  savages  at  bay  until  most  of  his 
men  were  slam,  and  he  himself  was  severely 
wounded.  Just  then  Ojeda  sprang  forth  like  a 
tiger  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  dealmg  his 
blows  on  ever;y  side.  La  Cosa  would  have  sec- 
onded him,  but  was  crippled  by  his  wounds.  Ha 
took  refuge  with  the  remnant  of  his  men  in  an  In 
dian  cabin  ;  the  straw  roof  of  which  he  aided  them 
to  throw  off,  lest  the  enemy  should  set  it  on  fiie 


84         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Here  he  defended  himself  until  all  his  comrades, 
but  one,  were  destroyed.  The  subtle  poison  of 
his  wounds  at  length  overpowered  him^  and  he 
sank  to  the  ground.  Feeling  death  at  hand,  he 
called  to  liis  only  surviving  companion.  "  Broth- 
er," said  he,  "  since  God  hath  protected  thee  from 
harm,  sally  forth  and  fly,  and  if  ever  thou  shouldst 
see  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  tell  him  of  my  fate  !  " 

Thus  fell  the  hardy  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  faitliful 
and  devoted  to  the  very  last ;  nor  can  we  refrain 
from  pausing  to  pay  a  passing  tribute  to  his  mem 
ory.  He  was  acknowledged  by  his  contempora- 
ries to  be  one  of  the  ablest  of  those  gallant  Span- 
ish navigators  who  first  explored  the  way  to  the 
New  World.  But  it  is  by  the  honest  and  kindly 
qualities  of  his  heart  that  his  memory  is  most  en- 
deared to  us ;  it  is,  above  all,  by  that  loyalty  in 
friendship,  displayed  in  this  his  last  and  fatal  ex- 
pedition. Warmed  by  his  attachment  for  a  more 
youthful  and  hot-headed  adventurer,  we  see  this 
wary  veteran  of  the  seas  forgetting  his  usual  pru- 
dence, and  the  lessons  of  his  experience,  and  em- 
barking heart  and  hand,  purse  and  person,  in  the 
wild  enterprises  of  his  favorite.  We  behold  him 
watching  over  him  as  a  parent,  remonstrating  with 
him  as  a  counsellor,  but  fighting  by  him  as  a  par- 
tisan ;  following  him,  without  hesitation,  into 
known  and  needless  danger,  to  certain  death  it- 
l^elf,  and  showing  no  other  solicitude  in  his  dying 
moments,  but  to  be  remembered  by  his  friend. 

The  history  of  these  Spanish  discoverers 
abounds  in  noble  and  generous  traits  of  character  ; 
^ut  few  have  charmed  us  more  than  this  instance 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  83 


of  loyalty  to  the  last  gasp,  in  the  death  of  the 
stanch  Juan  de  la  Cosa.  The  Spaniard  who  es- 
caped to  tell  the  story  of  his  end,  was  the  only 
survivor  of  seventy  that  had  followed  Ojeda  iu 
this  rash  and  headstrong  inroad. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ARRIVAL   OP   NICUESA.  —  VENGEANCE  TAKEN  ON  THK 
INDIANS. 

While  these  disastrous  occurrences  happened 
on  shore,  great  alarm  began  to  be  felt  on 
board  of  the  ships.  Days  had  elapsed  since 
the  party  had  adventured  so  rashly  into  the 
wilderness  ;  yet  nothing  had  been  seen  or  heard 
of  them,  and  the  forest  spread  a  mystery  over 
their  fate.  Some  of  the  Spaniards  ventured  a 
little  distance  into  the  woods,  but  were  deterred 
by  the  distant  shouts  and  yells  of  the  savages, 
and  the  noise  of  their  conchs  and  drums.  Armed 
detachments  then  coasted  the  shore  in  boats,  land- 
ing occasionally,  climbing  rocks  and  promontories, 
firing  signal  guns,  and  sounding  trumpets.  It  was 
all  in  vain ;  they  heard  nothing  but  the  echoes  ol 
their  own  noises,  or  pe  rhaps  the  wild  whoop  of  an 
Indian  from  the  bosom  of  the  forest.  At  length, 
when  they  were  about  to  give  up  the  search  m 
ilespair,  they  came  to  a  great  thicket  of  mangrove 
Srees  on  the  margin  of  the  sea*.  These  trees  grow 
inthin  the  water,  but  their  roots  rise,  and  are  in* 


86         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


tertwiiied  above  the  surface.  In  this  entangled 
and  almost  impervious  grove,  they  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  man  in  Spanish  attire.  They  en- 
tered, and,  to  their  astonishment,  found  it  to  be 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda.  He  was  lying  on  the  matted 
roots  of  the  mangroves,  his  buckler  on  his  shoul- 
der, and  his  sword  in  his  hand ;  but  so  wasted 
with  hunger  and  fatigue  that  he  could  not  speak. 
They  bore  him  to  the  firm  land  ;  made  a  fire  on 
the  shore  to  warm  him,  for  he  was  chilled  with 
the  damp  and  cold  of  his  hiding-place,  and  when 
he  was  a  little  revived  they  gave  him  food  and 
wine.  In  this  way  he  gradually  recovered  strength 
to  tell  his  doleful  story. ^ 

He  had  succeeded  in  cutting  his  way  through 
the  host  of  savages,  and  attaining  the  woody 
skirts  of  the  mountains ;  but  when  he  found  him- 
self alone,  and  that  all  his  brave  men  had  been 
cut  off,  he  was  ready  to  yield  up  in  despair.  Bit- 
terly did  he  reproach  himself  for  having  disre- 
garded the  advice  of  the  veteran  La  Cosa,  and 
deeply  did  he  deplore  the  loss  of  that  loyal  fol- 

1  The  picture  here  given  is  so  much  like  romance,  that  the 
author  quotes  his  authority  at  length:  —  "  Llegaron  adonde 
tiavia,  junto  al  agua  de  la  marunos  Manglares,  que  son  ar- 
boles,  que  siempre  nacen,  i  crecen  i  permanecen  dientro  del 
figua  de  la  mar,  con  grandes  raices,  asidas,  i  enmaranadas 
Unas  con  otras,  i  alii  metido,  i  escondido  hallaron  a  Alonso  de 
Ojeda,  con  su  espada  en  la  mano,  i  la  rodela  en  las  espaldas,  i 
en  alia  sobre  trecientas,  senales  de  flechazos  Estabo  descaido 
de  hambre,  que  no  podia  hechar  de  si  la  habla  ;  i  si  no  fuera 
ran  robusto,  aunque  chico  de  cuerpo,  fuera  muerto." 

Las  Casas,  lib.  ii.  cap.  58,  MS.  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decai 
ib.  vii.  cap.  15» 


TJTE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  87 

lower,  who  had  fallen  a  victim  to  his  devotion, 
lie  scarce  knew  wliich  way  to  bend  his  course, 
but  continued  on,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  and 
of  the  forest,  until  out  of  hearing  of  the  yells  of 
triumph  uttered  by  the  savages  over  the  bodies 
of  his  men.  When  the  day  broke,  he  sought  the 
rudest  parts  of  the  mountains,  and  hid  himself 
until  the  night ;  then  struggling  forward  among 
rocks,  and  precipices,  and  matted  forests,  he  made 
his  way  to  the  sea-side,  but  was  too  much  exhaust- 
ed to  reach  the  ships.  Indeed,  it  was  wonderful 
that  one  so  small  of  frame  should  have  been  able 
to  endure  such  great  hardships  ;  but  he  was  of 
admirable  strength  and  hardihood.  His  followers 
considered  his  escape  from  death  as  little  less  than 
miraculous,  and  he  himself  regarded  it  as  another 
proof  of  the  special  protection  of  the  Virgin ; 
for,  though  he  had,  as  usual,  received  no  wound, 
yet  it  is  said  his  buckler  bore  the  dints  of  upwards 
of  three  hundred  arrows.^ 

While  the  Spaniards  were  yet  on  shore,  admin- 
istering to  the  recovery  of  their  commander,  they 
beheld  a  squadron  of  ships  standing  towards  the 
harbor  of  Carthagena,  and  soon  perceived  them 
to  be  the  ships  of  Nicuesa.  Ojeda  was  troubled 
in  mind  at  the  sight,  recollecting  his  late  intem- 
perate defiance  of  that  cavalier ;  and  reflecting 
that,  should  he  seek  him  in  enmity,  he  was  in  no 
situation  to  maintain  his  challenge,  or  defend  him 
self.  He  ordered  his  men,  therefore,  to  return  on 
Doard  the  ships,  and  leave  him  alone  on  the 

1  Las  Casas,  lib.  ii.  cap.  58,  MS.  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind. 
lecad.  i.  lib.  vii.  cap.  15. 


88         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


shore,  and  not  to  reveal  the  place  of  his  retresL 
while  Nicuesa  should  remain  in  the  harbor. 

As  the  squadron  entered  the  harbor,  the  boats 
sallied  forth  to  meet  it.  The  first  inquiry  of  Ni* 
cuesa  was  concerning  Ojeda.  The  followers  of  the 
latter  replied,  mournfully,  that  their  commander 
bad  gone  on  a  warlike  expedition  into  the  country, 
but  days  had  elapsed  without  his  return,  so  that 
they  feared  some  misfortune  had  befallen  him. 
They  entreated  Nicuesa,  therefore,  to  give  his 
word,  as  a  cavalier,  that  should  Ojeda  really  be  in 
distress,  he  would  not  take  advantage  of  his  mis- 
fortunes to  revenge  himself  for  their  late  dis- 
putes. 

Nicuesa,  who  was  a  gentleman  of  noble  and 
generous  spirit,  blushed  with  indignation  at  such 
a  request.  "  Seek  your  commander  instantly," 
said  he ;  "  bring  him  to  me,  if  he  be  alive ;  and 
I  pledge  myself  not  merely  to  forget  the  past,  but 
to  aid  him  as  if  he  were  a  brother."  ^ 

When  they  met,  Nicuesa  received  his  late  foe 
with  open  arms.  "  It  is  not,"  said  he,  "  for 
hidalgos,  like  men  .of  vulgar  souls,  to  remember 
past  differences  when  they  behold  one  another  in 
distress.  Henceforth  let  all  that  has  occurred 
between  us  be  forgotten.  Command  me  as  a 
brother.  Myself  and  my  men  are  at  your  orders, 
to  follow  you  wherever  you  please,  until  the 
deaths  of  Jfian  de  la  Cosa  and  his  comrades  are 
revenged." 

The  spirits  of  Ojeda  were  once  more  lifted  up 
oy  this  gallant  and  generous  offer.    The  twii 
1  Las  Casas,  ubi  sup. 


TFIE  COMPANIONS  OF  lOLUMBUS.  89 

governors,  no  Joiiger  rivals,  landed  four  hundred 
of  their  men,  and  several  horses,  and  set  off  with 
all  speed  for  the  fatal  village.  They  apiDroached 
it  in  the  night,  and,  dividing  their  forces  into  two 
parties,  gave  orders  that  not  an  Indian  should 
bo  taken  alive. 

The  village  was  buried  in  deep  sleep,  but  the 
woods  were  filled  with  large  parrots,  which,  being 
awakened,  made  a  prodigious  clamor.  The  In- 
dians, however,  thinking  the  Spaniards  all  de- 
stroyed, paid  no  attention  to  these  noises.  It 
was  not  until  their  houses  were  assailed,  aud 
wrapped  in  fiames,  that  they  took  the  alarm. 
They  rushed  forth,  some  with  arms,  some  weapon- 
less, but  were  received  at  their  doors  by  the  ex- 
asperated Spaniards,  and  either  slain  on  the 
spot,  or  driven  back  into  the  fire.  Women  fled 
wildly  forth  with  children  in  their  arms,  but  at 
sight  of  the  Spaniards  glittering  in  steel,  and  of 
the  horses,  which  they  supposed  ravenous  mon- 
sters, ran  back,  shrieking  with  horror,  into  their 
burning  habitations.  Great  was  the  carnage,  for 
no  quarter  was  shown  to  age  or  sex.  Many 
perished  by  the  fire,  and  many  by  the  sword. 

When  they  had  fully  glutted  their  vengeance 
the  Spaniards  ranged  about  for  booty.  While 
thus  employed,  they  found  the  body  of  the  mi- 
fortunate  Juan  de  la  Cosa.  It  was  tied  to  a  tree 
but  swollen  and  discolored  in  a  hideous  manner 
by  the  poison  of  the  arrows  with  which  he  had 
been  slain.  This  dismal  spectacle  had  such  an 
eifect  upon  the  common  men,  that  not  one  would 
remain  in  that  place  during  the  night.  Having 


90         rOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


sacked  the  village,  therefore,  they  left  it  a  smok- 
ing rain,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  their  ships. 
The  spoil  in  gold  and  other  articles  of  value  must 
have  been  great,  for  the  share  of  Nicuesa  and 
his  men  amounted  to  the  value  of  seven  thousand 
castillanos.^  The  two  governors,  novr  faithful 
confederates,  parted  w^ith  many  expressions  of 
friendship,  and  v^itli  mutual  admiration  of  each 
other's  prowess  ;  and  Nicuesa  continued  his  voy 
age  for  the  coast  of  Veragua. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OJEDA  FOUNDS  THE  COLONY  OF  SAN  SEBASTIAN.  —  BUS- 
LEAGUERED  BY  THE  INDIANS. 

Ojeda  now  adopted,  though  tardily,  the  advice 
of  his  unfortunate  lieutenant,  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  and, 
giving  up  all  thoughts  of  colonizing  this  disastrous 
part  of  the  coast,  steered  his  course  for  the  Gulf  of 
Uraba.  He  sought  for  some  time  the  river  Darien, 
famed  among  the  Indians  as  abounding  in  gold  ; 
but  not  finding  it,  landed  in  various  places,  seeking 
a  favorable  site  for  his  intended  colony.  His  peo- 
ple were  disheartened  by  the  disasters  they  had 
already  undergone,  and  the  appearance  of  sur- 
rounding objects  was  not  calculated  to  reassure 
them.  The  country,  though  fertile,  and  covered 
with  rich  and  beautiful  vegetation,  was  in  theu* 
?yes  a  land  of  cannibals  and  monsters.  They 
1  Equivalent  to  37,281  dollars  of  the  present  day. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLLMBUS.  91 


began  to  dread  the  strength  as  well  as  fierceness 
of  the  savages,  who  could  transfix  a  man  with 
their  arrows  even  when  covered  with  armor,  and 
whose  shafts  were  tipped  with  deadly  poison. 
They  heard  the  howling  of  tigers,  panthers,  and, 
as  they  thought,  lions  in  the  forests,  and  encoun- 
tered large  and  venomous  serpents  among  tho 
rocks  and  thickets.  As  they  were  passing  along 
the  banks  of  a  river,  one  of  their  horses  was 
seized  by  the  leg  by  an  enormous  alligator,  and 
di'agged  beneath  the  waves.^ 

At  length  Ojeda  fixed  upon  a  place  for  his 
town,  on  a  height  at  the  east  end  of  the  gulf. 
Here,  landing  all  that  could  be  spared  from  the 
ships,  he  began,  with  all  diligence,  to  erect 
houses,  giving  this  embryo  capital  of  his  province 
the  name  of  San  Sebastian,  in  honor  of  that 
sainted  martyr,  who  was  slain  by  arrows ;  hoping 
he  might  protect  the  inhabitants  from  the  em- 
poisoned shafts  of  the  savages.  As  a  further 
protection,  he  erected  a  large  wooden  fortress, 
and  surrounded  the  place  with  a  stockade.  ^  Feel- 
ing, however,  the  inadequacy  of  his  handful  of 
men  to  contend  with  the  hostile  tribes  around 
him,  he  despatched  a  ship  to  Hispaniola,  with  a 
letter  to  the  Bachelor,  Martin  Fernandez  de 
Enciso,  his  alcalde  mayor,  informing  him  of  his 
having  established  his  seat  of  government,  and 
arging  him  to  lose  no  time  in  joining  him  with 
all  the  recruits,  arms,  and  provisions  he  could 
command.  By  the  same  ship  he  transmitted  to 
San  Domingo  all  the  captives  and  gold  he  bad 
ftofected. 

1  Herrera,  Hist-  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  vii.  cap.  16. 


92         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

His  capital  being  placed  in  a  posture  of  de- 
fense, Ojeda  now  thought  of  making  a  pirogresa 
through  his  wild  territory  ;  and  set  out,  accord- 
ingly, with  an  armed  band,  to  pay  a  friendly  visit 
to  a  neighboring  cacique,  reputed  as  possessing 
great  treasures  of  gold.  The  natives,  however, 
had  by  this  time  learnt  the  nature  of  these 
friendly  visits,  and  were  prepared  to  resist  them. 
Scarcely  had  the  Spaniards  entered  into  the  de- 
files of  the  surrounding  forest,  when  they  were 
assailed  by  flights  of  arrows  from  the  close  coverts 
of  the  thickets.  Some  were  shot  dead  on  the 
spot,  others,  less  fortunate,  expired  raving  with 
the  torments  of  the  poison ;  the  survivors,  filled 
with  horror  at  the  sight,  and  losing  all  presence 
of  mind,  retreated  in  confusion  to  the  fortress. 

It  was  some  time  before  Ojeda  could  again 
persuade  his  men  to  take  the  field,  so  great  was 
their  dread  of  the  poisoned  weapons  of  the  In- 
dians. At  iength  their  provisions  began  to  fail, 
and  they  were  compelled  to  forage  among  the 
villages  in  search,  not  of  gold,  but  of  food. 

In  one  of  their  expeditions  they  were  surprised 
by  an  ambuscade  of  savages,  in  a  gorge  of  the 
mountains,  and  attacked  with  such  fury  and 
effect,  that  they  were  completely  routed,  and 
pursued  with  yells  and  bowlings  to  the  very 
gates  of  San  Sebastian.  Many  died,  in  excruci- 
a'jng  agony,  of  their  wounds,  and  others  recov- 
i^red  with  extreme  difficulty.  Those  who  were 
veil,  no  longer  dared  to  venture  forth  in  search 
of  food ;  for  the  whole  forest  teemed  with  lurking 
Ibes.    They  devoured  such  herbs  and  roots  as 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  93 

tiiey  could  find,  without  regard  to  their  quality, 
Tlie  humors  of  their  bodies  became  corrupted, 
and  various  diseases,  combined  with  the  ravages 
of  famine,  daily  thinned  their  numbers.  The 
sentinel  who  feebly  mounted  guard  at  night,  wag 
often  found  dead  at  his  post  in  the  morning. 
Some  stretched  themselves  on  the  ground,  and 
expired  of  mere  famine  and  debility ;  nor  was 
death  any  longer  regarded  as  an  evil,  but  rather 
as  a  welcome  relief  from  a  life  of  horror  and  de- 
spair. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ALONZO  DE  OJEDA  SUPPOSED  BY  THE  SAVAGES  TO  HAVE 
A  CHARMED  LIFE.  — THEIR  EXPERIMENT  TO  TRY  THE 
FACT. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Indians  continued  to  har- 
ass the  garrison,  lying  in  wait  to  surprise  the  for- 
aging parties,  cutting  off  all  stragglers,  and  some- 
times approaching  the  walls  in  open  defiance.  On 
such  occasions  Ojeda  sallied  forth  at  the  head  of 
his  men,  and  from  his  great  agility  was  the  first  to 
overtake  the  retreating  foe.  He  slew  more  of  their 
warriors  with  his  single  arm  than  all  his  followers 
together.  Though  often  exposed  to  showers  of 
arrows,  none  had  ever  wounded  him,  and  the  In- 
dians began  to  think  he  had  a  charmed  life.  Per- 
haps they  had  heard  from  fugitive  prisoners,  the 
idea  entertained  by  himself  and  his  followers,  of 
his  being  under  supernatural  protection.  Deter- 
mired  to  ascertain  the  fact,  they  placed  four  of 


94         VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  0I< 

tlieir  most  dexterous  archers  in  ambush,  with  or- 
ders to  single  him  out.  A  number  of  them  ad- 
vanced towards  the  fort,  sounding  their  conchs  and 
drums,  and  uttering  yells  of  defiance.  As  they 
expected,  the  impetuous  Ojeda  sallied  forth  im- 
mediately at  the  head  of  his  men.  The  Indians 
fled  towards  the  ambuscade,  drawing  him  in 
heedless  pursuit.  The  archers  waited  until  he  was 
fall  in  front,  and  then  launched  their  deadly  shafts. 
Three  struck  his  buckler,  and  glanced  harmlessly 
off,  but  the  fourth  pierced  his  thigh.  Satisfied  tliat 
he  was  wounded  beyond  the  possibility  of  cure, 
the  savage  i  retreated  with  shouts  of  triumph. 

Ojeda  iras  borne  back  to  the  fortress  in  great 
anguish  of  body  and  despondency  of  spirit.  For 
the  first  time  in  his  life  he  had  lost  blood  in  battle. 
The  charm  in  which  he  had  hitherto  confided  was 
broken ;  or  rather,  the  Holy  Virgin  appeared  to 
have  withdrawn  her  protection.  He  had  the  hor- 
rible death  of  his  followers  before  his  eyes,  who 
had  perished  of  their  wounds  in  raving  frenzy. 

One  of  the  symptoms  of  the  poison  was  to  shoot 
a  thrilling  chill  through  the  wounded  part ;  from 
this  circumstance,  perhaps,  a  remedy  suggested  it- 
self to  the  imagination  of  Ojeda,  which  few  but 
himself  could  have  had  the  courage  to  xmdergo. 
He  caused  two  plates  of  iron  to  be  made  red  hot, 
and  ordered  a  surgeon  to  apply  them  to  each 
orifice  of  the  wound.  The  surgeon  shuddered  and 
•-efused,  saying  he  would  not  be  the  murderer  of 
bis  general.^  Upon  this  Ojeda  made  a  solemn 
vow  that  he  would  hang  bim  unless  he  obeyed 
1  Charlevoix,  ut  sup.  p.  293. 


THE  COMPANIONS  01    COLUMBVS,  95 


Tg  avoid  the  gallows,  the  surgeon  applied  the  glow- 
uig  plates.  Ojeda  refused  to  be  tied  down,  or 
that  any  one  should  hold  him  during  this  frightful 
operation.  He  endured  it  without  shrinking,  or 
uttering  a  murmur,  although  it  so  inflamed  his 
whole  system,  that  they  had  to  wrap  him  in  sheets 
steeped  in  vinegar,  to  allay  the  burning  heat 
which  raged  throughout  his  body ;  and  we  are  as- 
sured that  a  barrel  of  vinegar  was  exhausted  for 
the  purpose.  The  desperate  remedy  succeeded: 
the  cold  poison,  says  Bishop  Las  Casas,  was  con- 
sumed by  the  vivid  fire.^  How  far  the  venerable 
historian  is  correct  in  his  postulate,  surgeons  may 
decide ;  but  many  incredulous  persons  will  be  apt 
to  account  for  the  cure  by  surmising  that  the  ar 
row  was  not  envenomed. 


CHAPTER  yil. 

ARRIVAL  OF  A  STRANGE  SHI?  AT  SAN  SEBASTIAN. 

Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  though  pronounced  out 
of  danger,  was  still  disabled  by  his  wound,  and 
his  helpless  situation  completed  the  despair  of  his 
companions  ;  for  while  he  was  in  health  and  vigor, 
his  buoyant  and  mercurial  spirit,  his  active,  restless, 
and  enterprising  habits,  imparted  animation,  if  not 
confidence,  to  every  one  around  him.  The  only 
hope  of  relief  was  from  tne  sea,  and  that  was 
aearly  extinct,  when  one  day,  to  the  unspeakable 
1  Las  Casas,  Hist  Ind.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  59,  MS. 


OG  VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

\oj  of  the  Spaniards,  a  sail  appeared  on  the  hori- 
zon.  It  made  for  the  port,  and  dropped  anchof 
at  the  foot  of  the  height  of  San  Sebastian,  and 
there  was  no  longer  a  doubt  that  it  was  the  prom- 
ised succor  from  San  Domingo. 

The  ship  came  indeed  from  the  island  of  His- 
paniola,  but  it  had  not  been  fitted  out  by  the  Bach- 
elor Enciso.  The  commander's  name  was  Ber- 
nardino de  Talavera.  This  man  was  one  of  the 
loose,  heedless  adventurers  who  abounded  in  San 
Domingo.  His  carelessness  and  extravagance  had 
involved  him  in  debt,  and  he  was  threatened  with 
a  prison.  In  the  height  of  his  difficulties  the  ship 
arrived  which  Ojeda  had  sent  to  San  Domingo, 
freighted  with  slaves  and  gold,  an  earnest  of  the 
riches  to  be  found  at  San  Sebastian.  Bernardo 
de  Talavera  immediately  conceived  the  project  of 
giving  his  creditors  the  slip,  and  escaping  to  this 
new  settlement.  He  understood  that  Ojeda  was 
in  need  of  recruits,  and  felt  assured  that,  from  his 
own  reckless  conduct  in  money  matters  he  would 
sympathize  with  any  one  harassed  by  debt.  He 
drew  into  his  schemes  a  number  of  desperate  debt- 
ors like  himself,  nor  was  he  scrupulous  about  fill- 
ing his  ranks  with  recruits  whose  legal  em- 
barrassments arose  from  more  criminal  causes. 
Never  did  a  more  vagabond  crew  engage  in  a 
project  of  colonization. 

How  to  provide  themselves  with  a  vessel  was 
now  the  question.  They  had  neither  money  nor 
credit;  but  they  had  cunning  and  courage,  and 
were  troubled  by  no  scruples  of  conscience ;  thus 
qualified,  a  knave  will  often  succeed  better  for  ? 


THE  COMPANIONti  OF  COLUMBUS,  97 


rune  than  an  honest  man ;  it  is  in  the  long  run 
rhat  he  fails,  as  will  be  illustrated  in  the  case  of 
Talavera  and  his  hopeful  associates.  "While  cast- 
ing about  for  means  to  escape  to  San  Sebastian, 
they  heard  of  a  vessel  belonging  to  certain  Geno- 
ese, which  was  at  Cape  Tiburon,  at  the  western 
extremity  of  the  island,  taking  in  a  cargo  of 
bacon  and  cassava  bread  for  San  Domingo.  No~ 
thing  could  have  happened  more  opportunely: 
here  was  a  ship,  amply  stored  with  provisions,  and 
ready  to  their  hand;  they  had  nothing  to  do  but 
seize  it  and  embark. 

The  gang,  accordingly,  seventy  in  number,  made 
their  way  separately  and  secretly  to  Cape  Tiburon, 
where,  assembling  at  an  appomted  time  and  place, 
they  boarded  the  vessel,  overpowered  the  crew, 
weighed  anchor  and  set  sail.  They  were  heedless, 
hap~hazard  mariners,  and  knew  little  of  the  man- 
agement of  a  vessel ;  the  historian  Charlevoix 
thinks,  therefore,  that  it  was  a  special  providence 
which  guided  them  to  San  Sebastian.  Whether 
or  not  the  good  father  is  right  in  his  opinion,  it  is 
certain  that  the  arrival  of  the  ship  rescued  the 
garrison  from  the  very  brmk  of  destruction.^ 

Talavera  and  his  gang,  though  they  had  come 
lightly  by  their  prize,  were  not  disposed  to  part 
with  it  as  frankly,  but  demanded  to  be  paid  do^vn 
in  gold  for  the  provisions  furnished  to  the  starving 
colonists.  Ojeda  agreed  to  their  terms,  and  taking 
the  supplies  into  his  possession,  dealt  them  out 
sparingly  to  his  companions.  Several  of  his  hungry 
followers  were  dissatisfied  with  their  portions,  and 
1  Hist.  S.  Domingo,  lib.  ivc 

VOL.  III.  7 


98         VOYAGES  AND  MSCOVERIES  Of 


even  accused  Ojeda  of  unfairness  in  reserving  asi 
undue  share  for  himself.  Perhaps  there  may  Ijavci 
been  some  ground  for  this  charge,  arising,  not  from 
any  selfishness  in  the  character  of  Ojeda,  but  from 
one  of  those  superstitious  fancies  with  vrhich  his 
mind  was  tinged ;  for  we  are  told  that,  for  many 
years,  he  had  been  haunted  by  a  presentiment  that 
he  should  eventually  die  of  hunger.^ 

This  lurking  horror  of  the  mind  may  have  made 
him  depart  from  his  usual  free  and  lavish  spirit, 
in  doling  out  these  providential  supplies,  and  may 
have  induced  him  to  set  by  an  extra  portion  for 
himself,  as  a  precaution  against  his  anticipated 
fate ;  certain  it  is,  that  great  clamors  rose  among 
his  people,  some  of  whom  threatened  to  return  in 
the  pirate  vessel  to  Hispaniola.  He  succeeded, 
however,  in  pacifying  them  for  the  present,  by 
representing  the  necessity  of  husbanding  their 
supplies,  and  by  assuring  them  that  the  Bachelor 
Enciso  could  not  fail  soon  to  arrive,  when  there 
would  be  provisions  in  abundance. 


CHAPTEE  yilL 

FACTIONS  IN  TIIE  COLONY.  — A  CONVENTION  MADE. 

Days  and  days  elapsed,  but  no  relief  arrived  at 
San  Sebastian.    The  Spaniards  kept  a  ceaseless 
watch  upon  the  sea,  but  the  promised  ship  failed 
to  appear.    With  all  the  husbandry  of  Ojeda  ihe 
1  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib.  viii.  cap.  3. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  99 


stock  of  provisions  was  nearly  consumed ;  famine 
again  prevailed,  and  several  of  the  garrison  per- 
ished through  their  various  sufferings  and  their  lack 
of  sufficient  nourishment.  The  survivors  now 
became  factious  in  their  misery,  and  a  plot  wap 
formed  among  them  to  seize  upon  one  of  the  ves- 
sels in  the  harbor,  and  make  sail  for  Hispaniol^ 

Ojeda  discovered  their  mtentions,  and  was  re- 
duced to  great  perplexity.  He  saw  that  to  remair 
here  without  relief  from  abroad  was  certahi  de- 
struction, yet  he  clung  to  his  desperate  enterprise. 
It  was  his  only  chance  for  fortune  or  command ; 
for  should  this  settlement  be  broken  up,  he  might 
try  in  vain,  with  his  exhausted  means  and  broken 
credit,  to  obtain  another  post  or  set  on  foot  an- 
other expedition.  Ruin  in  fact  would  overwhelm 
him,  should  he  return  without  success. 

He  exerted  himself,  therefore,  to  the  utmost  to 
pacify  his  men  ;  representing  the  folly  of  abandon- 
ing a  place  where  they  had  established  a  foothold, 
and  where  they  only  needed  a  reinforcement  to 
enable  them  to  control  the  surrounding  country, 
and  to  make  themselves  masters  of  its  riches. 
Finding  they  still  demurred,  he  offered,  now  that 
he  was  sufficently  recovered  from  his  wound,  to 
go  himself  to  San  Domingo  in  quest  of  reinforce- 
ments and  supplies. 

'  This  offer  had  the  desired  effect.  Such  con- 
^dence  had  the  people  in  the  energy,  ability,  and 
influence  of  Ojeda,  that  they  felt  assured  of  relief 
should  he  seek  it  in  person.  They  made  a  kind 
of  convention  with  liim,  therefore,  in  which  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  remain  quietly  at  Sebas- 


lOU       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

tmn  for  the  space  of  fifty  days.  At  the  end  of 
this  time,  in  case  no  tidings  had  been  received  of 
Ojeda,  they  were  to  be  at  liberty  to  abandon  the 
settlement,  and  return  in  the  brigantines  to  His- 
paniola.  In  the  mean  time  Francisco  Pizarro 
was  to  command  the  colony  as  lieutenant  of  Ojeda, 
until  the  arrival  of  his  alcalde  mayor,  the  Bachelor 
Enciso.  This  convention  being  made,  Ojeda  em- 
barked m  the  ship  of  Bernardino  de  Talavera. 
That  cutpurse  of  the  ocean  and  his  loose-handed 
crew  were  effectually  cured  of  their  ambition  to 
colonize.  Disappointed  in  the  hope  of  finding 
abundant  wealth  at  San  Sebastian,  and  dismayed 
at  the  perils  and  horrors  of  the  surrounding  wil- 
derness, they  preferred  returning  to  Hispaniola, 
even  at  the  risk  of  chains  and  dungeons.  Doubt- 
less they  thought  that  the  influence  of  Ojeda 
would  be  sufficient  to  obtain  their  pardon,  espe- 
cially as  their  timely  succor  had  been  the  salvation 
of  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISASTROUS  VOYAGE  OF  OJEDA  IN  THE  PIRATE  SHIP 

Ojeda  had  scarce  put  to  sea  in  the  ship  of 
these  freebooters,  when  a  quarrel  arose  between 
him  and  Talavera.  Accustomed  to  take  the  lead 
among  his  companions,  still  feeling  himself  gov- 
ernor, and  naturally  of  a  domineering  spirit,  Ojeda, 
on  coming  on  board,  had  assumed  the  command 
98  a  matter  of  course.    Talavera,  who  claimed 


THE  COMPANIONS  Ob'  COL^^MBUS,  101 

iominion  over  the  ship,  by  the  right  no  doubt  of 
ti'over  and  conversion,  or,  in  other  words,  of  down- 
right piracy,  resisted  this  usurpation. 

Ojeda,  as  usual,  would  speedily  have  settled  the 
question  by  the  sword,  but  he  had  the  whole  vaga 
bond  crew  against  him,  who  overpowered  him  with 
numbers  and  threw  him  in  irons.  Still  his  swell- 
ing spirit  was  unsubdued.  He  reviled  Talavera  and 
his  gang  as  recreants,  traitors,  pirates,  and  offered 
to  fight  the  whole  of  them  successively,  provided 
they  would  give  him  a  clear  deck,  and  come  on 
two  at  a  time.  Notwithstanding  liis  diminutive 
size,  they  had  too  high  an  idea  of  his  prowess,  and 
had  heard  too  much  of  his  exploits,  to  accept  his 
challenge ;  so  they  kept  liim  raging  in  liis  chains, 
while  they  pursued  their  voyage. 

They  had  not  proceded  far,  however,  when  a 
violent  storm  arose.  Talavera  and  his  crew  knew 
little  of  navigation,  and  were  totally  ignorant  of 
thoge  seas.  The  raging  of  the  elements,  the  baf- 
fling winds  and  currents,  and  the  danger  of  un 
known  rocks  and  shoals,  filled  them  with  confusion 
and  alarm.  They  knew  not  whither  they  were 
driving  before  the  storm,  or  where  to  seek  for 
shelter.  In  this  hour  of  peril  they  called  to  mind 
that  Ojeda  was  a  sailor  as  well  as  a  soldie  *,  and 
that  he  had  repeatedly  navigated  these  seas.  Mak- 
ing a  truce,  therefore,  for  the  common  safety,  they 
took  off  his  irons,  on  condition  that  he  would  pilot 
ihe  vessel  during  the  remainder  of  the  voyage. 

Ojeda  acquitted  liimself  with  his  accustomed 
spirit  and  mtrepidity ;  but  the  vessel  had  already 
oeen  swept  so  far  to  the  westward,  that  all  his 


102 


VOYAGJ^S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Bkill  was  ineffectual  in  endeavoring  to  work  up  to 
Hispauiola  against  storms  and  adverse  currents. 
Borne  away  by  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  tempest-tost 
for  many  days,  until  the  shattered  vessel  was  al- 
most in  a  foundering  condition,  he  saw  no  alter- 
native but  to  run  it  ashore  on  the  southern  coast 
of  Cuba. 

Here  then  the  crew  of  freebooters  landed  from 
their  prize  in  more  desperate  plight  than  when 
they  first  took  possession  of  it.  They  were  on  a 
wild  and  unfrequented  coast ;  their  vessel  lay  a 
wreck  upon  the  sands,  and  their  only  chance  was 
to  travel  on  foot  to  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
island,  and  seek  some  means  of  crossing  to  His- 
pauiola, where,  after  all  their  toils,  they  might  per- 
haps only  arrive  to  be  thrown  into  a  dmigeon. 
Such,  however,  is  the  yearning  of  civilized  men 
after  the  haunts  of  cultivated  society,  that  they 
set  out,  at  every  risk,  upon  their  long  and  painful 
journey. 


CHAPTER  X. 

TOILSOME  MARCH  OF  OJEDA  AND  HIS  COMPANIONS 
THKOUail  THE  MORASSES  OP  CUBA. 

Notwithstanding  the  recent  services  of 
Ojeda,  the  crew  of  Talavera  still  regarded  liim 
with  hostility ;  but,  if  they  had  felt  the  value  of 
his  skill  and  courage  at  sea,  they  were  no  less 
sensible  of  th^ir  importance  on  shore,  and  he  soon 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  103 

acqiiired  that  ascendency  over  them  which  be- 
longs to  a  master-spirit  in  time  of  trouble. 

Cuba  was  as  yet  uncolonized.  It  was  a  place 
of  refuge  to  the  unhappy  natives  of  Hayti,  who 
fled  hither  from  the  whips  and  chauas  of  their 
European  taskmasters.  The  forests  abounded 
with  these  wretched  fugitives,  who  often  opposed 
themselves  to  the  shipwrecked  party,  supposing 
them  to  be  sent  by  their  late  masters  to  drag  them 
back  to  captivity. 

Ojeda  easily  repulsed  these  attacks  ;  but  found 
that  these  fugitives  had  likewise  inspired  the  vil- 
lagers with  hostility  to  all  European  strangers. 
Seeing  that  his  companions  were  too  feeble  and 
disheartened  to  fight  their  way  through  the  pop- 
ulous parts  of  the  island,  or  to  climb  the  rugged 
mountains  of  the  interior,  he  avoided  all  towns 
and  villages,  and  led  them  through  the  close  for- 
ests and  broad  green  savannas  which  extended 
between  the  mountains  and  the  sea. 

He  had  only  made  a  choice  of  evils.  The  for- 
ests gradually  retired  from  the  coast.  The  savan- 
nas, where  the  Spaniards  at  first  had  to  contend 
merely  with  long  rank  grass  and  creeping  vines, 
soon  ended  in  salt  marshes,  where  the  oozy  bot- 
tom yielded  no  firm  foothold,  and  the  mud  and 
water  reached  to  their  knees.  Still  they  pressed 
forward,  continually  hoping  in  a  little  while  to 
arrive  at  a  firmer  soil,  and  flattering  themselves 
they  beheld  fresh  meadow-land  before  them,  but 
continually  deceived.  The  farther  they  proceeded, 
the  deeper  grew  the  mire,  until,  after  they  had 
aeen  eight  days  on  this  dismal  journey,  they 


104       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


found  themselves  in  the  centre  of  a  vast  mcrass, 
where  the  water  reached  to  theu^  girdles.  Though 
thus  almost  drowned,  they  wxre  tormented  with 
incessant  thirst,  for  all  the  water  around  them  was 
as  briny  as  the  ocean.  They  suffered  too  the 
cravings  of  extreme  hunger,  having  but  a  scanty 
supply  of  cassava  bread  and  cheese,  and  a  few 
potatoes  and  other  roots,  which  they  devoured 
raw.  When  they  wished  to  sleep,  they  had  to 
climb  among  the  twisted  roots  of  mangrove  trees, 
which  grew  in  clusters  in  the  water.  Still  the 
dreary  marsh  widened  and  deepened.  In  many 
places  they  had  to  cross  rivers  and  inlets  ;  where 
some,  who  could  not  swim,  were  drowned,  and 
others  were  smothered  in  the  mire. 

Their  situation  became  wild  and  desperate. 
Their  cassava  bread  was  spoiled  by  the  water, 
and  their  stock  of  roots  nearly  exhausted.  The 
interminable  morass  still  extended  before  them, 
while,  to  return,  after  the  distance  they  had  come, 
was  hopeless.  Ojeda  alone  kept  up  a  resolute 
spirit,  and  cheered  and  urged  them  forward.  He 
had  the  little  Flemish  painting  of  the  Madonna, 
which  had  been  given  him  by  the  Bishop  Fon- 
seca,  carefully  stowed  among  the  provisions  in  his 
knapsack.  Whenever  he  stopped  to  repose  among 
the  roots  of  the  mangrove  trees,  he  took  out  this 
picture,  placed  it  among  the  branches,  and  kneel- 
ing, prayed  devoutly  to  the  Virgin  for  protection. 
This  he  did  repeatedly  in  the  course  of  the  day, 
and  prevailed  upon  his  companions  to  follow  his 
example.  Nay,  more,  at  a  moment  of  great  des- 
pondency, he  made  a  solemn  vow  to  his  patron  esi 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  105 

that  if  she  conducted  him  alive  through  this  peri], 
he  would  erect  a  chapel  in  the  first  Indian  village 
he  should  arrive  at ;  and  leave  her  picture  there, 
to  remain  an  object  of  adoration  to  the  Gentiles.^ 
This  frightful  morass  extended  for  the  distance 
of  thirty  leagues,  and  was  so  deep  and  difficult, 
60  entangled  by  roots  and  creeping  vines,  so  cut 
up  by  creeks  and  rivers,  and  so  beset  by  quag- 
mires, that  they  were  thirty  days  in  traversing  it. 
Out  of  the  number  of  seventy  men  that  set 
out  from  the  ship,  but  thirty-five  remained.  "  Cer- 
tain it  is,"  observes  the  venerable  Las  Casas, 
the  sufferings  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  New 
World,  in  search  of  wealth,  have  been  more  cruel 
and  severe  than  ever  nation  in  the  world  endured ; 
but  those  experienced  by  Ojeda  and  his  men  have 
surpassed  all  others." 

They  were  at  length  so  overcome  by  hunger 
and  fatigue,  that  some  lay  down  and  yielded  up 
the  ghost,  and  others,  seating  themselves  among 
the  mangrove  trees,  waited  in  despair  for  death 
to  put  an  end  to  their  miseries.  Ojeda,  with  a 
few  of  the  lightest,  and  most  vigorous,  continued 
to  struggle  forward,  and,  to  their  unutterable  joy, 
at  length  arrived  to  where  the  land  was  firm  and 
dry.  They  soon  descried  a  foot  path,  and,  follow- 
ing it,  arrived  at  an  Indian  village,  commanded  by 
a  cacique  called  Cueybas.  No  sooner  did  they 
reach  the  village  than  they  sank  to  the  earth  ex» 
Uausted. 

The  Indians  gathered  round  and  gazed  at  them 
;vit]i  wonder ;  but  when  they  learnt  their  story, 
1  Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  60,  MS. 


lOG       rOVAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


they  exhibited  a  humanity  that  would  have  dona 
honor  to  the  most  professing  Christians.  They 
bore  them  to  their  dwellings,  set  meat  and  drmk 
before  them,  and  vied  with  each  other  in  discharg- 
ing the  offices  of  the  kmdest  humanity.  Finding 
that  a  number  of  their  companions  were  still  in 
the  morass,  the  cacique  sent  a  large  party  of  In- 
dians with  provisions  for  their  relief ;  with  orders 
to  bring  on  their  shoulders  such  as  were  too  fee- 
ble to  walk.  "The  Indians,"  says  the  Bishop 
Las  Casas,  "  did  more  than  they  were  ordered ; 
for  so  they  always  do,  when  they  are  not  exasper- 
ated by  ill  treatment.  The  Spaniards  were 
brought  to  the  village,  succored,  cherished,  con- 
soled, and  almost  worshipped  as  if  they  had  been 
angels." 


CHAPTER  XL 

OJEDA  PERFORMS  HIS  VOW  TO  THE  VIRGIN. 

Being  recovered  from  his  sufferings,  Alonzo 
ie  Ojeda  prepared  to  perform  his  vow  concerning 
the  picture  of  the  Virgin,  though  sorely  must  it 
have  grieved  him  to  part  with  a  relic  to  wliich  he 
attributed  his  deliverance  from  so  many  perils^ 
He  built  a  little  hermitage  or  oratory  in  the  vil- 
lage, and  furnished  it  with  an  altar,  above  wliich 
be  placed  the  picture.  He  then  summoned  the 
benevolent  cacique,  and  explained  to  liim,  as  wel! 
'AS  his  limited  knowledge  of  the  language,  or  the 
"id  of  hiterpreters  would  permit,  the  mam  points 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  107 

of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  especially  the  history 
of  the  Virgin,  whom  he  represented  as  the  moth- 
er of  the  deity  that  reigned  in  the  skies,  and  the 
great  advocate  for  mortal  man. 

The  worthy  cacique  listened  to  him  with  mute 
attention,  and  though  he  might  not  clearly  com- 
prehend the  doctrine,  yet  he  conceived  a  pro* 
found  veneration  for  the  picture.  The  sentiment 
was  shared  by  his  subjects.  They  kept  the 
little  oratory  always  swept  clean,  and  decorated 
it  with  cotton  hangings,  labored  by  their  own 
hands,  and  with  various  votive  oiFerings.  They 
composed  couplets  or  areytos  in  honor  of  the 
Virgin,  which  they  sang  to  the  accompaniment  of 
rude  musical  instruments,  dancing  to  the  sound 
under  the  groves  which  surrounded  the  hermitage. 

A  further  anecdote  concerning  this  relic  may 
not  be  unacceptable.  The  venerable  Las  Casas, 
who  records  these  facts,  informs  us  that  he 
arrived  at  the  village  of  Cueybas  some  time 
after  the  departure  of  Ojeda.  He  found  the 
oratory  preserved  with  the  most  religious  care, 
as  a  sacred  place,  and  the  picture  of  the  Virgin 
regarded  with  fond  adoration.  The  poor  Lidians 
crowded  to  attend  mass,  which  he  performed  at 
the  altar ;  they  listened  attentively  to  his  paternal 
instructions,  and  at  his  request  brought  their 
children  to  be  baptized.  The  good  Las  Casas 
having  heard  much  of  this  famous  relic  of  Ojeda, 
was  desirous  of  obtaining  possession  of  it,  and 
offered  to  give  the  cacique,  in  exchange,  an 
.-mage  of  the  Virgin  which  he  had  brought  with 
him.    The  chieftain  made  an  evasive  answer,  and 


108 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Beemed  much  troubled  iii  mind.  The  next  morn* 
ing  he  did  not  make  his  appearance. 

Las  Casas  went  to  the  oratory  to  perform 
mass,  but  found  the  altar  stripped  of  its  precious 
relic.  On  inquiring,  he  learnt  that  in  the  night 
the  cacique  had  lied  to  the  woods,  bearing  off 
with  him  his  beloved  picture  of  the  Virgin.  It 
was  in  vain  that  Las  Casas  sent  messengers  after 
him,  assuring  him  that  he  should  not  be  deprived 
of  the  relic,  but  on  the  contrary,  that  the  image 
should  likewise  be  presented  to  him.  The  ca- 
cique refused  to  venture  from  the  fastnesses  of 
the  forest,  nor  did  he  return  to  his  village  and 
replace  the  picture  in  the  oratory  until  after  the 
departure  of  the  Spaniards.-^ 


CHAPTER  XIL 

ARRIVAL  OF  OJEDA  AT  JAMAICA.  — HIS  RECEPTION  BY 
JUAN  DE  ESQUIBEL. 

When  the  Spaniards  were  completely  restored 
to  health  and  strength,  they  resumed  their  journey. 
The  cacique  sent  a  large  body  of  his  subjects  to 
carry  their  provisions  and  knapsacks,  and  to 
guide  them  across  a  desert  tract  of  country  to 
the  province  of  Macaca,  where  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus had  been  hospitably  entertained  on  his 
v^oyage  along  the  coast.    They  experienced  equal 

1  j^as  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  cap.  61,  MS.  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind 
iecad.  I  lib.  ix.  cap.  15. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  109 

kindness  from  its  cacique  and  his  people,  for  such 
seems  ahnost  invariably  the  case  with  the  natives 
of  these  islands,  before  they  had  held  much  inter- 
course with  Europeans. 

The  province  of  Macaca  was  situated  at  Cape 
de  la  Cruz,  the  nearest  point  to  the  island  of 
Jamaica.  Here  Ojeda  learnt  that  there  were 
Spaniards  settled  on  that  island,  being  in  fact  the 
party  commanded  by  the  very  Juan  de  Esquibel, 
whose  head  he  had  threatened  to  strike  off,  when 
departing  in  swellmg  style  from  San  Domingo. 
It  seemed  to  be  the  fortune  of  Ojeda  to  have  his 
bravadoes  visited  on  his  head  in  times  of  trouble 
and  humiliation.  He  found  himself  compelled  to 
apply  for  succor  to  the  very  man  he  had  so  vain- 
gloriously  menaced.  This  was  no  time,  however, 
to  stand  on  points  of  pride;  he  procured  a  canoe 
and  Indians  from  the  cacique  of  Macaca,  and  one 
Pedro  de  Qrdas  undertook  the  perilous  voyage 
of  twenty  leagues  in  the  frail  bark,  and  arrived 
safe  at  Jamaica. 

No  sooner  did  Esquibel  receive  the  message 
of  Ojeda,  than,  forgetting  past  menaces,  he 
instantly  despatched  a  caravel  to  bring  to  him 
'he  unfortunate  discoverer  and  his  companions. 
He  received  him  with  the  utmost  kindness, 
lodged  him  in  his  own  house,  and  treated  him  in 
all  things  with  the  most  delicate  attention.  He 
was  a  gentleman  who  had  seen  prosperous  days, 
but  had  fallen  into  adversity  and  been  buffeted 
about  the  world,  and  had  learnt  how  to  respect 
^he  feelings  of  a  proud  spirit  in  distress.  Ojeda 
had  the  warm,  touchy  heart  to  feel  such  conduct ; 


110       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

he  remained  several  days  with  Esquibel  iu  fraak 
communion,  and  when  he  sailed  for  San  Domingo, 
they  parted  the  best  of  friends. 

And  here  we  cannot  but  remark  the  singular 
difference  in  character  and  conduct  of  these 
Spanish  adventurers  when  dealing  with  each 
otlier,  or  with  the  unhappy  natives.  Nothing 
could  be  more  chivalrous,  urbane,  and  charitable ; 
uotliing  more  pregnant  with  noble  sacrifices  of 
passion  and  interest,  with  magnanimous  instances 
of  forgiveness  of  injuries  and  noble  contests  of 
generosity,  than  the  transactions  of  the  dis- 
coverers with  each  other ;  but  the  moment  they 
turned  to  treat  with  the  Indians,  even  with  brave 
and  high-minded  caciques,  they  were  vindictive, 
blood-thirsty,  and  implacable.  The  very  Juan  de 
Esquibel,  who  could  requite  the  recent  hostility 
of  Ojeda  with  such  humanity  and  friendship,  was 
the  same,  who,  under  the  government;  of  Ovando, 
laid  desolate  the  province  of  Higuey  in  Hispaniola, 
and  inflicted  atrocious  cruelties  upon  its  inhabi- 
tants. 

When  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  set  sail  for  San  Do- 
mingo, Bernardino  de  Talavera  and  his  rabble 
adherents  remained  at  Jamaica.  They  feared  to 
be  brought  to  account  for  their  piratical  exploit 
iu  stealmg  the  Genoese  vessel,  and  that,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  recent  violence  to  Ojeda,  they 
would  find  in  him  an  accuser  rather  than  an 
advocate.  The  latter,  however,  in  the  opinion 
of  Las  Casas,  who  knew  him  well,  was  not  a 
man  to  make  accusations.  With  all  his  faults  ho 
did  not  harbor  malice.    He  was  quick  and  fiery, 


THE  COMPAMONS  OF  COLUMBVS,  111 


it  is  true,  and  his  sword  was  too  apt  to  leap  from 
its  scabbard  on  the  least  provocation ;  but  after 
the  first  flash  all  was  over,  and,  if  he  cooled  upon 
an  injuiy,  he  never  sought  for  vengeance. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

ARRIVAL  OF  ALONZO  DE  OJEDA  AT  SAN  DOMINGO.  —  CON 

CLUSION  OF  HIS  STORY. 

On  arriving  at  San  Domingo,  the  first  inquiry 
of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  was  after  the  Bachelor 
Enciso.  He  was  told  that  he  had  departed  long 
before,  with  abundant  supplies  for  the  colony,  and 
that  nothing  had  been  heard  of  him  since  his 
departure.  Ojeda  waited  for  a  time  in  hopes  of 
hearing,  by  some  return  ship,  of  the  safe  arrival 
of  the  Bachelor  at  San  Sebastian.  No  tidings, 
however,  arrived,  and  he  began  to  fear  that  he 
had  been  lost  in  those  storms  which  had  beset 
himself  on  his  return  voyage. 

Anxious  for  the  relief  of  his  settlement,  and 
fearing  that,  by  delay,  his  whole  scheme  of 
colonization  would  be  defeated,  he  now  en- 
deavored to  set  on  foot  another  armament,  and 
to  enlist  a  new  set  of  adventurers.  His  efforts, 
however,  were  all  ineffectual.  The  disasters  of 
his  colony  were  known,  and  his  own  circum- 
stances were  considered  desperate.  He  was 
doomed  to  experience  the  fate  Uiat  too  often 
attends  sanguine  and  brilliant  projectors.  The 


112       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


vvorki  is  dazzled  by  them  for  a  time,  and  haila 
them  as  heroes  while  successful;  but  misfortunQ 
dissij^ates  the  charm,  and  they  become  stigmatized 
with  the  appellation  of  adventurers.  ^Vhen 
Ojeda  figured  in  San  Domingo  as  the  conqueror 
of  Caonabo,  as  the  commander  of  a  squadron,  as 
tlie  governor  of  a  province,  his  prowess  and 
exploits  were  the  theme  of  every  tongue.  Wlicn 
he  set  sail,  in  vaunting  style,  for  his  seat  of 
government,  setting  the  viceroy  at  defiance,  and 
threatening  the  life  of  Esquibel,  every  one 
thought  that  fortune  was  at  his  beck,  and  he  was 
about  to  accomplish  wonders.  A  few  months 
had  elapsed,  and  he  walked  the  streets  of  San 
Domingo  a  needy  man,  shipwrecked  in  hope  and 
fortune.  His  former  friends,  dreading  some  new 
demand  upon  their  purses,  looked  coldly  on  him ; 
his  schemes,  once  so  extolled,  were  now  pro- 
nounced wild  and  chimerical,  and  he  was  sub- 
jected to  all  kinds  of  slights  and  humiliations  in 
the  very  place  which  had  been  the  scene  of  his 
greatest  vainglory. 

While  Ojeda  was  thus  lingering  at  San  Do- 
mingo, the  admiral,  Don  Diego  Columbus,  sent 
a  party  of  soldiers  to  Jamaica  to  arrest  Talavera 
and  his  pirate  crew.  They  were  brought  in 
chains  to  San  Domingo,  thrown  into  dungeons, 
and  tried  for  the  robbery  of  the  Genoese  vessel. 
Their  crime  was  too  notorious  to  admit  of  doubt, 
and  being  convicted,  Talavera  and  several  of  his 
principal  accomplices  were  hanged.  Such  was 
the  end  of  their  frightful  journey  by  sea  and 
land.  Never  had  vagabonds  travelled  farthei 
nor  toiled  harder  to  arrive  at  a  gallows ! 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COL  (7  XT  BUS,  113 


In  the  course  of  the  trial  Ojeda  had  naturally 
been  summoned  as  a  witness,  and  his  testimony 
must  have  tended  greatly  to  the  conviction  of 
the  culprits.  This  drew  upon  him  the  vengeance 
of  the  surviving  comrades  of  Talavera,  who  still 
lurked  about  San  Domingo.  As  he  was  return 
ing  home  one  night  at  a  late  hour,  he  was  way 
laid  and  set  upon  by  a  number  of  these  miscre- 
ants. He  displayed  his  usual  spirit.  Setting  his 
back  against  a  wall,  and  drawing  his  sword,  he 
defended  himself  admirably  against  the  whole 
gang ;  nor  was  he  content  with  beatmg  them  off, 
but  pursued  them  for  some  distance  through  the 
streets  :  and  having  thus  put  them  to  utter  rout, 
returned  tranquil  and  unharmed  to  his  lodgings. 

This  is  the  last  achievement  recorded  of  the 
gallant  but  reckless  Ojeda  ;  for  here  his  bustling 
career  terminated,  and  he  sank  into  the  obscur- 
ity wliich  gathers  round  a  ruined  man.  His 
health  was  broken  by  various  hardships,  and  by 
the  lurking  elFects  of  the  wound  received  at  San 
Sebastian,  which  had  been  but  imperfectly  cured. 
Poverty  and  neglect,  and  the  corroding  sickness 
of  the  heart,  contributed,  no  less  than  the  mal- 
adies of  the  body,  to  quench  that  sanguine  and 
fiery  temper,  which  had  hitherto  been  the  secret 
of  his  success,  and  to  render  him  the  mere 
wreck  of  his  former  self ;  for  there  is  no  ruin  so 
hopeless  and  complete,  as  that  of  a  towering 
spirit  humiliated  and  broken  down.  He  appears 
to  have  lingered  some  time  at  San  Domingo. 
Gomara,  in  his  history  of  the  Indies,  affirms  that 
he  turned  monk,  and  entered  in  the  convent  of 

VCL.  III.  8 


114       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVER fES  OF 

San  Francisco,  wliere  he  died.  Such  a  change 
would  not  have  been  surprising  in  a  man,  who, 
in  his  wildest  career,  mingled  the  bigot  with 
the  soldier ;  nor  was  it  unusual  with  military  ad- 
venturers in  those  days,  after  passing  their  youth 
in  the  bustle  and  licentiousness  of  the  camp,  to 
end  their  days  in  the  quiet  and  mortification  of 
the  cloister.  Las  Casas,  however,  who  was  at 
San  Domingo  at  the  time,  makes  no  mention  of 
the  fact,  as  he  certainly  would  have  done,  had  it 
taken  place.  He  confirms,  however,  all  that  has 
been  said  of  the  striking  reverse  in  his  character 
and  circumstances  ;  and  he  adds  an  affecting  pic- 
ture of  his  last  moments,  which  may  serve  as  a 
wholesome  comment  on  his  life.  He  died  so 
poor  that  he  did  not  leave  money  enough  to  pro- 
vide for  his  interment ;  and  so  broken  in  spirit, 
that,  with  his  last  breath,  he  entreated  his  body 
might  be  buried  in  the  monastery  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, just  at  the  portal,  in  humble  expiation  of 
his  past  pride,  "  that  every  one  who  entered  might 
tread  upon  his  graver  ^ 

Such  was  the  fate  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  —  and 
who  does  not  forget  his  errors  and  his  faults  at 
the  threshold  of  his  humble  and  untimely  grave ! 
He  was  one  of  the  most  fearless  and  asjDiring  of 
the  band  of  "  Ocean  chivalry  "  that  followed  the 
footsteps  of  Columbus.  His  story  presents  a 
lively  picture  of  the  daring  enterprises,  the  ex- 
travagant exploits,  the  thousand  accidents,  by 
flood  and  field,  which  checkered  the  life  of  a 
Spanish  cavalier  in  that  roving  and  romantic  age. 
1  Las  Casas,  ubi  sup. 


TFIE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  115 


Never,"  says  Charlevoix,  was  a  man  more 
suited  for  a  coup-de-main,  or  to  achieve  and  suf- 
fer great  things  under  the  direction  of  another  ; 
none  had  a  heart  more  lofty,  nor  ambition  more 
aspiring ;  none  ever  took  less  heed  of  fortune, 
nor  showed  greater  firmness  of  soul,  nor  found 
more  resources  in  his  own  courage ;  but  none  was 
less  calculated  to  be  commander-in-chief  of  a 
great  enterprise.  Good  management  and  good 
fortune  forever  failed  him."  ^ 

1  Charlevoix,  Hist.  San  Domingo. 


THE  VOYAGE  OP  DIEGO  DE  NICUESA. 


CHAPTER  1. 

NICUESA  SAILS  TO  THE  WESTWARD.  — HIS  SHIPWRECK 
AND  SUBSEQUENT  DISASTERS. 

E  have  now  to  recount  the  fortunes  ex- 
perienced by  the  gallant  and  generous 
Diego  de  Nicuesa,  after  his  parting  from 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda  at  Carthagena.  On  resuming 
his  voyage,  he  embarked  in  a  caravel,  that  he 
might  be  able  to  coast  the  land  and  reconnoitre ; 
he  ordered  that  the  two  brigantines,  one  of  which 
was  commanded  by  his  Lieutenant  Lope  de 
Olano,  should  keep  near  to  him,  while  the  large 
vessels,  which  drew  more  water,  should  stand 
farther  out  to  sea.  The  squadron  arrived  upon 
the  coast  of  Yeragua,  in  stormy  weather  ;  and, 
as  Nicuesa  could  not  find  any  safe  harbor,  and 
was  apprehensive  of  rocks  and  shoals,  he  stood 
out  to  sea  at  the  approach  of  night,  supposing 
that  Lope  de  Olano  would  follow  him  with  the 
brigantines  according  to  his  orders.  The  night 
was  boisterous,  the  caravel  was  much  tossed  and 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC.  117 

driven  about,  and  when  the  morning  dawned,  not 
one  of  the  squadron  was  in  sight. 

Nicuesa  feared  some  accident  had  befallen  the 
brigan tines  ;  he  stood  for  the  land,  and  coasted 
along  it  in  search  of  them  until  he  came  to  a 
large  river,  into  which  he  entered  and  came  ttf 
anchor.  He  had  not  been  here  long  when  the 
stream  suddenly  subsided,  having  merely  been 
swollen  by  the  rains.  Before  he  had  time  to 
extricate  himself,  the  caravel  grounded,  and  at 
length  fell  over  on  one  side.  The  current  rush- 
ing like  a  torrent,  strained  the  feeble  bark  to  such 
a  degree  that  her  seams  yawned,  and  she  ap- 
peared ready  to  go  to  pieces.  In  this  moment 
of  peril  a  hardy  seaman  threw  himself  into  the 
water,  to  carry  the  end  of  a  rope  on  shore  as  a 
means  of  saving  the  crew.  He  was  swept  away 
by  the  furious  current,  and  perished  in  the  sight 
of  his  companions.  Undismayed  by  his  fate, 
another  brave  seaman  plunged  into  the  waves 
and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore.  He  then 
fastened  one  end  of  a  rope  firmly  to  a  tree,  and 
the  other  bemg  secured  on  board  of  the  caravel, 
Nicuesa  and  his  crew  passed  one  by  one  along  it, 
and  reached  the  shore  in  safety. 

Scarcely  had  they  landed  when  the  carave] 
went  to  pieces,  and  with  it  perished  their  pro- 
visions, clothing,  and  all  other  necessaries.  No- 
thing remained  to  them  but  the  boat  of  the  cara- 
vel, which  was  accidentally  cast  on  shore.  Here 
tlien  they  were,  in  helpless  plight,  on  a  remote 
dud  savage  coast,  without  food,  without  arms,  and 
almost  naked.    What  had  become  of  the  rest  of 


118       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVER! L'S  OF 


the  squadron  they  knew  not.  Some  feared  thai 
tlie  brigan tines  had  been  wrecked  ;  others  called  to 
mind  that  Lope  de  Olano  had  been  one  of  the 
loose,  lawless  men  confederated  with  Francisco 
Roldan  in  his  rebellion  against  Columbus,  and, 
jtidging  him  from  the  school  in  which  he  had 
served,  hinted  their  apprehensions  that  he  had 
deserted  with  the  brigan  tines.  Nicuesa  partook 
of  their  suspicions ;  and  was  anxious  and  sad  at 
heart.  He  concealed  his  uneasiness,  however,  and 
endeavored  to  cheer  up  his  companions,  proposing 
that  they  should  proceed  westward  on  foot  ui 
search  of  Yeragua,  the  seat  of  his  intended  gov- 
ernment ;  observing  that,  if  the  ships  had  survived 
the  tempest,  they  would  probably  repair  to  that 
place.  They  accordingly  set  off  along  the  sea- 
shore, for  the  thickness  of  the  forest  prevented 
their  traversing  the  interior.  Four  of  the  hardiest 
sailors  put  to  sea  in  the  boat,  and  kept  abreast  of 
them,  to  help  them  across  the  iJays  and  rivers. 

Their  sufferings  were  extreme.  Most  of  them 
were  destitute  of  shoes,  and  many  almost  naked. 
They  had  to  clamber  over  sharp  and  rugged  rocks, 
and  to  struggle  through  dense  forests  beset  with 
chorns  and  brambles.  Often  they  had  to  wade 
across  rank  fens  and  morasses,  and  drowned  lands, 
or  to  traverse  deep  and  rapid  streams. 

Their  food  consisted  of  herbs  and  roots,  and 
i^hell-fish  gathered  along  the  shore.  Had  they 
even  met  with  Indians,  they  would  have  dreaded, 
in  their  unarmed  state,  to  apply  to  them  for  pro- 
visions, lest  they  should  take  revenge  for  the  out- 
rages committed  along  this  coast  by  other  Euro- 
peans, 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  119 

To  render  their  sufferings  more  intolerable,  tliey 
were  in  doubt  whether,  in  the  storms  which  pre- 
ceded their  shipwreck,  they  had  not  been  driven 
past  Yeragua,  in  which  case  each  step  would  take 
them  so  much  the  farther  from  their  desired  haven. 

Still  they  labored  feebly  forward,  encouraged 
by  the  words  and  the  example  of  Nicuesa,  who 
cheerfi.illy  partook  of  the  toils  and  hardships  of 
the  meanest  of  his  men. 

They  had  slept  one  night  at  the  foot  of  impend- 
ing rocks,  and  were  about  to  resume  their  weary 
march  in  the  morning,  when  they  were  espied  by 
some  Indians  from  a  neighboring  height.  Among 
the  followers  of  Nicuesa  was  a  favorite  page, 
whose  tattered  finery  and  white  hat  caught  the 
quick  eyes  of  the  savages.  One  of  them  im- 
mediately singled  him  out,  and  taking  deadly  aim, 
let  fly  an  arrow  that  laid  him  expiring  at  the 
feet  of  his  master.  While  the  generous  cavalier 
mourned  over  his  slaughtered  page,  consternation 
prevailed  among  his  companions,  each  fearing  for 
his  own  life.  The  Indians,  however,  did  not  fol- 
low up  this  casual  act  of  hostility,  but  suffered  the 
Spaniards  to  pursue  their  painful  journey  im- 
molested. 

Arriving  one  day  at  the  point  of  a  great  bay 
that  ran  far  inland,  they  were  conveyed,  a  few  at 
a  time,  in  the  boat,  to  what  appeared  to  be  the 
opposite  point.  Being  all  landed,  and  resuming 
their  march,  they  found  to  their  surprise  that  they 
were  on  an  island,  separated  from  the  mainland 
by  a  great  arm  of  the  sea.  The  sailors  who  man- 
aged the  boat  were  too  weary  to  take  them  to  the 


120       VOYAGES  AND  DlSCtVERIES  OF 


Opposite  shore ;  they  remained,  therefore  all  night 
upon  the  island. 

In  the  morning  they  prepared  to  depart,  but,  to 
their  consternation,  the  boat  with  the  four  mari- 
ners had  disappeared.  They  ran  anxiously  from 
point  to  point,  uttering  shouts  and  cries,  in  hopes 
tiie  boat  might  be  in  some  inlet ;  they  clambered 
the  rocks,  and  strained  their  eyes  over  the  sea. 
It  was  all  in  vain.  No  boat  was  to  be  seen  :  no 
voice  responded  to  their  call ;  it  was  too  evident 
the  four  mariners  had  either  perished  or  had  de- 
serted them. 


CHAPTER  11. 

NICUESA  AND  HIS  MEN  ON  A  DESOLATE  ISLAND.' 

The  situation  of  Nicuesa  and  his  men  was 
(1  reary  and  desperate  in  the  extreme.  They  were 
on  a  desolate  island,  bordering  upon  a  swampy 
coast,  in  a  remote  and  lonely  sea,  where  commerce 
never  spread  a  sail.  Their  companions  in  the 
other  ships,  if  still  alive  and  true  to  them,  had 
doubtless  given  them  up  for  lost ;  and  many  years 
might  elapse  before  the  casual  bark  of  a  discoverer 
might  venture  along  these  shores.  Long  before 
*hat  time  their  fate  would  be  sealed ;  and  their 
bones,  bleaching  on  the  sands,  would  alone  tell 
their  story. 

In  this  hopeless  state  many  abandoned  them 
selves  to  frantic  grief,  wandering  about  the  island, 
wringuig  their  hands  and  uttering  groans  and  lam- 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBLS.  121 

eiitations ;  others  called  upon  God  lor  succor, 
and  many  sat  down  in  silent  and  sullen  despair. 

The  cravings  of  hunger  and  thirst  at  lengtJi 
roused  them  to  exertion.  They  found  no  food 
but  a  few  shell-fish  scattered  along  the  shore,  and 
coarse  herbs  and  roots,  some  of  them  of  an  un- 
wholesome quality.  The  island  had  neither  springs 
nor  streams  of  fresh  water,  and  they  were  fain  to 
slake  their  thirst  at  the  brackish  pools  of  the 
marshes. 

Nicuesa  endeavored  to  animate  liis  men  with 
new  hopes.  He  employed  them  in  constructing 
a  raft  of  drift-wood  and  branches  of  trees,  for  the 
purpose  of  crossing  the  arm  of  the  sea  that  sep- 
arated them  from  the  mainland.  It  was  a  difficult 
task,  for  they  were  destitute  of  tools ;  and  when 
the  raft  was  finished,  they  had  no  oars  with  which 
to  manage  it.  Some  of  the  most  expert  swimmers 
undertook  to  propel  it,  but  they  were  too  much 
enfeebled  by  their  sufferings.  On  their  first  essay, 
the  currents  which  sweep  that  coast  bore  the  raft 
out  to  sea,  and  they  swam  back  with  difficulty 
to  the  island.  Having  no  other  chance  of  escape, 
and  no  other  means  of  exercising  and  keeping  up 
the  spirits  of  his  followers,  Nicuesa  repeatedly  or- 
dered new  rafts  to  be  constructed ;  but  the  result 
was  always  the  same,  and  the  men  at  length  eithei 
grew  too  feeble  to  work,  or  renounced  the  attempt 
Ui  despair. 

Thus,  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week 
elapsed,  without  any  mitigation  of  suffering  or 
any  prospe<it  of  relief.  Ever}  day  some  one  oi 
other  sank  under  his  miseries,  a  victim,  not 


122       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


miicli  to  hunger  and  thirst,  as  to  grief  and  des- 
pondency. His  death  was  envied  by  his  wretched 
survivors,  many  of  whom  were  reduced  to  such 
debihty,  that  they  had  to  crawl  on  hands  and 
knees  in  search  of  the  herbs  and  shell-fish  which 
formed  theu  scanty  food. 


CHAPTER  in. 

ARRIVAL  OF  A  BOAT.  —  CONDUCT  OF  LOPE  DE  OLANO. 

When  the  unfortunate  Spaniards,  without  hope 
of  succor,  began  to  consider  death  as  a  desirable 
end  to  their  miseries,  they  were  roused  to  new 
life  one  day  by  beholding  a  sail  gleaming  on  the 
horizon.  Their  exultation  was  checked,  however, 
by  the  reflection  how  many  chances  there  were 
against  its  approaching  this  wild  and  desolate 
island.  Watching  it  with  anxious  eyes,  they  put 
up  prayers  to  God  to  conduct  it  to  their  relief ; 
and  at  length  to  their  great  joy,  they  perceived 
that  it  was  steering  directly  for  the  island.  On  a 
nearer  approach  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  brig- 
antines  which  had  been  commanded  by  Lope  de 
Olano.  It  came  to  anchor :  a  boat  put  off,  and 
among  the  crew  were  the  four  sailors  who  had 
.'iisappeared  so  mysteriously  from  the  island. 

These  men  accounted  in  a  satisfactory  manner 
for  their  desertion.  They  had  been  persuaded 
that  the  ships  were  in  some  harbor  to  the  east-* 
ward,  and  that  they  were  daily  leaving  them  far* 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  123 

tlier  beliiiid.  Disheartened  at  the  constant,  and, 
ui  their  opinion,  fruitless  toil  which  fell  to  their 
share  in  the  struggle  westward,  the}^  resolved  to 
take  their  own  counsel,  without  risking  the  oppo- 
sition of  Nicuesa.  In  the  dead  of  the  night, 
therefore,  when  their  companions  on  the  island 
were  asleep,  they  silently  cast  off  their  boat,  and 
retraced  their  course  along  the  coast.  After  sev- 
eral days'  toil  they  found  the  brigantines  under 
the  command  of  Lope  de  Olano,  in  the  river  of 
Belen,  the  scene  of  the  disasters  of  Columbus  in 
his  fourth  voyage. 

The  conduct  of  Lope  de  Olano  was  regarded 
with  suspicion  by  his  contemporaries,  and  is  still 
subject  to  doubt.  He  is  supposed  to  have  desert- 
ed Mcuesa  designedly,  intending  to  usurp  the  com- 
mand of  the  expedition.  Men,  however,  were 
prone  to  judge  harslily  of  him  from  his  having 
been  concerned  in  the  treason  and  rebellion  of 
Francisco  Roldan.  On  the  stormy  night  when 
Mcuesa  stood  out  to  sea  to  avoid  the  dangers  of 
the  shore,  Olano  took  shelter  under  the  lee  of  an 
island.  Seeing  nothing  of  the  caravel  of  his  com- 
mander in  the  morning,  he  made  no  effort  to  seek 
for  it,  but  proceeded  with  the  brigantines  to  the 
river  of  Chagres,  where  he  found  the  ships  at 
anchor.  They  had  landed  all  their  cargo,  being 
almost  in  a  sinking  condition  from  the  ravages  of 
the  worms.  Olano  persuaded  the  crews  that  Ni- 
cuesa  had  perished  in  the  late  storm,  and,  being 
his  lieutenant,  he  assumed  the  command.  Whether 
he  had  been  perfidious  or  not  in  his  motives, 
Uis  command  was  but  a  succession  of  disasters. 


124:        VOYAGES  AND  DJSCOVERIES  OF 


He  sailed  from  Chagres  for  the  river  of  Belcn, 
where  the  ships  were  found  so  damaged  that  they 
had  to  be  broken  to  pieces.  Most  of  the  peo- 
ple constructed  wretched  cabins  on  the  shore, 
where,  during  a  sudden  storm,  they  were  almost 
washed  away  by  the  swelling  of  the  river,  or 
swallowed  up  in  the  shifting  sands.  Several  of 
liis  men  were  drowned  in  an  expedition  in  quest 
of  gold,  and  he  himself  merely  escaped  by  supe- 
rior swimming.  Their  provisions  were  exhausted, 
they  suffered  from  hunger  and  from  various  mal- 
adies, and  many  perished  in  extreme  misery.  All 
were  clamorous  to  abandon  the  coast,  and  Olano 
set  about  constructing  a  caravel,  out  of  the  wreck 
of  the  ships,  for  the  purpose,  as  he  said,  of  re- 
turning to  Hispaniola,  though  many  suspected  it 
was  still  his  intention  to  persist  in  the  enterprise. 
Such  was  the  state  in  which  the  four  seamen  had 
found  Olano  and  his  party ;  most  of  them  living 
in  miserable  cabins,  and  destitute  of  the  necessa- 
ries of  life. 

The  tjdings  that  Nicuesa  was  still  alive,  put  an 
end  to  the  sway  of  Olano.  Wliether  he  had 
acted  with  truth  or  perfidy,  he  now  manifested  i\ 
zeal  to  relieve  his  commander,  and  immediately 
despatched  a  brigantine  in  quest  of  liim,  wliicli, 
guided  by  the  four  seamen,  arrived  at  th(»  islaud 
in  tU^  way  that  has  been  mentioned. 


TEE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  125 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NICUESA  REJOINS  HIS  CREWS. 

When  the  crew  of  tlie  brigantine  and  the 
companions  of  Nicuesa  met,  thej  embraced  each 
other  with  tears,  for  the  hearts  even  of  the  rough 
mariners  were  subdued  by  the  sorrows  they  had 
undergone ;  and  men  are  rendered  kind  to  each 
other  by  a  community  of  suffering.  The  brigan- 
tme  had  brought  a  quantity  of  palm-nuts,  and  of 
such  other  articles  of  food  as  they  had  been  able 
to  procure  along  the  coast.  These  the  famished 
Spaniards  devoured  with  such  voracity  that  Ni- 
cuesa  was  obliged  to  interfere,  lest  they  should  in- 
jure themselves.  Nor  was  the  supply  of  fresh 
water  less  grateful  to  their  parched .  and  fevered 
palates. 

When  sufficiently  revived,  they  all  abandoned 

the  desolate  island,  and  set  sail  for  the  river  Belen, 
exulting  as  joyfully  as  if  their  troubles  were  at 
an  end,  and  they  were  bound  to  a  haven  of  de- 
light, instead  of  merely  changing  the  scene  of 
suffering,  and  encountering  a  new  variety  of  hor- 
rors. 

In  the  mean  time  Lope  de  Olano  had  been  dil- 
igently preparing  for  the  approaching  interview 
mth  his  commander,  by  persuading  his  fellow- 
officers  to  intercede  in  his  behalf,  and  to  place  his 
late  conduct  in  the  most  favorable  light.  He  had 
need  of  their  intercessions.  Nicuesa  arrived, 
ourning  with  indignation.    He  ordered  him  to  be 


J  26       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


instantly  seized  and  punished  as  a  traitor ;  attrib- 
uting to  his  desertion  the  ruin  of  the  enterprise, 
and  the  sufferings  and  death  of  so  many  of  his 
brave  followers.  The  fellow-captains  of  Olano 
spoke  m  his  favor ;  but  Nicuesa  turned  indignantly 
upon  them :  "  You  do  well,"  cried  he,  "  to  suppli- 
cate mercy  for  him ;  you,  who,  yourselves,  have 
need  of  pardon  !  You  have  participated  m  his 
crime ;  why,  else,  have  you  suffered  so  long  a  time 
to  elapse  without  compelling  him  to  send  one  of 
the  vessels  in  search  of  me  ?  " 

The  captains  vindicated  themselves  by  assur- 
ances of  their  belief  in  his  having  foundered  at 
sea.  They  reiterated  their  supplications  for  mercy 
to  Olano  ;  drawing  the  most  affecting  pictures  of 
their  past  and  present  sufferings,  and  urging  the 
impolicy  of  mcreasing  the  horrors  of  their  situa- 
tion by  acts  of  severity.  Nicuesa  at  length  was 
prevailed  upon  to  spare  his  victim  ;  resolving  to 
send  him,  by  the  first  opportunity,  a  prisoner  to 
Spain.  It  appeared,  in  truth,  no  time  to  add  to, 
the  daily  blows  of  fate  that  were  thinning  the 
number  of  his  followers.  Of  the  gallant  arma- 
ment of  seven  hundred  resolute  and  effective  men 
that  had  sailed  with  them  from  San  Domingo, 
four  hundred  had  already  perished  by  various 
miseries  ;  and  of  the  survivors,  many  could  scarce* 
y  be  said  to  live. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  127 


CHAPTEE  V. 

lUFf BRINGS  OF  NICUESA  AND  HIS  MEN  ON  THE  COASl 
OF  THE  ISTHMUS. 

The  first  care  of  Nicuesa,  on  resuming  the 
general  command,  was  to  take  measures  for  the 
relief  of  his  people,  who  were  perishing  with  fam- 
ine and  disease.  All  those  who  were  in  health, 
or  who  had  strength  sufficient  to  bear  the  least  fa- 
tigue, were  sent  on  foraging  parties,  among  the 
fields  and  villages  of  the  natives.  It  was  a  ser- 
vice of  extreme  peril ;  for  the  Indians  of  this 
part  of  the  coast  were  fierce  and  warlike,  and 
were  the  same  who  had  proved  so  formidable  to 
Columbus  and  his  brother,  when  they  attempted 
to  found  a  settlement  in  this  neighborhood. 

Many  of  the  Spaniards  were  slain  in  these  ex- 
peditions. Even  if  they  succeeded  in  collecting 
provisions,  the  toil  of  bringing  them  to  the  har 
bor  was  worse  to  men  in  their  enfeebled  condi- 
tion, than  the  task  of  fighting  for  them ;  for  they 
were  obliged  to  transport  them  on  their  backs, 
and,  thus  heavily  laden,  to  scramble  over  rugged 
rocks,  through  almost  impervious  forests,  and 
across  dismal  swamps. 

Harassed  by  these  perils  and  fatigues,  they 
broke  forth  into  murmurs  against  their  commander, 
accusing  him,  not  merely  of  indifference  to  their 
Bufferings,  but  of  wantonly  imposing  severe  and 
unnecessary  tasks  upon  them  out  of  revenge  foi 
their  having  neglected  him. 

The  genial  temper  of  Nicuesa  had,  m  fact, 


128       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

been  soured  by  disappointment ;  and  a  series  of 
harassing  cares  and  evils  had  rendered  him  irn* 
table  and  impatient ;  but  he  was  a  cavalier  of  a 
generous  and  honorable  nature,  and  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  enforced  any  services  that  were  not 
indispensable  to  the  common  safety.  In  fact,  the 
famme  had  increased  to  such  a  degree,  that,  we 
are  told,  thirty  Spaniards  having  on  one  occasion 
found  the  dead  body  of  an  Indian  in  a  starve  of  de- 
cay, they  were  driven  by  hunger  to  make  a  meal 
of  it,  and  were  so  infected  by  the  horrible  repast, 
that  not  one  of  them  survived.-^ 

Disheartened  by  these  miseries,  Nicuesa  deter- 
mined to  abandon  a  place  which  seemed  destined 
to  be  the  grave  of  Spaniards.  Embarking  the 
greater  part  of  his  men  m  the  two  brigantines, 
and  the  caravel  which  had  been  built  by  Olano, 
he  set  sail  eastward  in  search  of  some  more  fav- 
orable situation  for  his  settlement.  A  number  of 
the  men  remained  behind,  to  await  the  ripening 
of  some  maize  and  vegetables  which  they  had 
sown.  These  he  left  under  the  command  of 
Alonzo  Nunez,  whom  he  nominated  liis  alcalde 
mayor. 

When  Nicuesa  had  coasted  about  four  leagues 
to  the  east,  a  Genoese  sailor,  who  had  been  with 
Columbus  in  his  last  voyage,  informed  him  that 
there  was  a  fine  harbor  somewhere  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, which  had  pleased  the  old  admiral  so 
highly,  that  he  had  given  it  the  name  of  Puerto 
Bello.  He  added,  that  they  might  know  the  har- 
bor by  an  anchor,  half  buried  in  the  sand,  which 
1  Herrera,  Hist,  Ind.,  decad.  i.  and  viii.  cap.  2. 


77//':  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  129 

Columbus  had  left  there  ;  near  to  which  was  a 
fountain  of  remarkably  cool  and  sweet  water, 
springing  up  at  the  foot  of  a  large  tree.  Nicuesa 
ordered  search  to  be  made  along  the  coast,  and  at 
length  they  found  the  anchor,  the  fountain,  and 
the  tree.  It  was  the  same  harbor  which  bears 
the  name  of  Porto  Bello  at  the  present  day.  A 
number  of  the  crew  were  sent  on  shore  in  search 
of  provisions,  but  were  assailed  by  the  Indians  ; 
and,  being  too  weak  to  wield  their  weapons  with 
their  usual  prowess,  were  driven  back  to  the  ves- 
sels with  the  loss  of  several  slain  or  wounded. 

Dejected  at  these  continual  misfortunes,  Nicuesa 
continued  his  voyage  seven  leagues  farther,  until 
he  came  to  the  harbor  to  which  Columbus  had 
given  the  name  of  Puerto  de  Bastimientos ;  or, 
Port  of  Provisions.  It  presented  an  advantageous 
situation  for  a  fortress,  and  was  surrounded  by  a 
fruitful  country.  Nicuesa  resolved  to  make  it  his 
abidmg  place.  "  Here,"  said  he,  "  let  us  stop, 
en  el  nomhre  de  Dios  (in  the  name  of  God). 
His  followers,  with  the  superstitious  feeling  under 
which  men  in  adversity  are  prone  to  interpret 
everything  into  omens,  persuaded  themselves  that 
there  was  favorable  augury  m  his  words,  and 
called  the  harbor  "  Nombre  de  Dios,"  which  name 
it  afterwards  retained. 

Nicuesa  now  landed,  and  drawing  his  sword^ 
took  solemn  possession  in  the  name  of  the  Cath- 
olic sovereigns.  He  immediately  began  to  erect 
a  fortress,  to  protect  his  people  against  the  attacks 
of  the  savages.  As  this  was  a  case  of  exigency, 
he  exacted  thi^  labor  of  every  one  capable  of  ex- 

VOL.  III.  9 


ISO       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


ertion.  The  Spaniards,  thus  eqnally  distressed 
by  flimine  and  toil,  forgot  their  favorable  omen, 
cursed  the  place  as  fated  to  be  their  grave,  and 
called  down  imprecations  on  the  head  of  their 
commander,  who  compelled  them  to  labor  when 
ready  to  sink  with  hunger  and  debility.  Those 
murmuied  no  less  who  were  sent  in  quest  of  food, 
which  was  only  to  be  gained  by  fatigue  and  blood- 
shed ;  for  whatever  they  collected  they  had  to 
transport  from  great  distances,  and  they  were 
frequently  waylaid  and  assaulted  by  the  Indians. 

When  he  could  spare  men  for  the  purpose,  Ni- 
cuesa  despatched  the  caravel  for  those  whom  he 
had  left  at  the  river  Belen.  Many  of  them  had 
perished,  and  the  survivors  had  been  reduced  to 
such  famine  at  times,  as  to  eat  all  kinds  of  rep- 
tiles, until  a  part  of  an  alligator  was  a  banquet  to 
them.  On  mustering  all  his  forces  when  thus 
united,  Nicuesa  found  that  but  one  hundred 
emaciated  and  dejected  wretches  remained. 

He  despatched  the  caravel  to  Hispaniola,  to 
bring  a  quantity  of  bacon  which  he  had  ordered 
to  have  prepared  there,  but  it  never  returned 
He  ordered  Gonzalo  de  Badajos,  at  the  head  of 
twenty  men,  to  scour  the  country  for  provisions 
but  the  Indians  had  ceased  to  cultivate :  they 
could  do  with  little  food,  and  could  subsist  on  the 
roots  and  wild  fruits  of  the  forest.  The  Spaniards, 
therefore,  found  deserted  villages  and  barren 
fields,  but  lurking  enemies  at  every  defile.  So 
deplorably  were  they  reduced  by  their  sufferings, 
that  at  length  there  were  not  left  a  sufficient 
number  in  health  and  strength  to  mount  guard  as 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  131 

flight ;  and  the  fortress  remained  witliout  sentinels. 
Snch  was  the  desperate  sitnation  of  this  once  gay 
and  gallant  cavalier,  and  of  his  brilliant  armament, 
which  but  a  few  months  before,  had  sailed  from 
San  Domingo,  flushed  with  the  consciousness  of 
power,  and  the  assurance  that  they  had  the 
means  of  compelling  the  favors  of  fortune. 

It  is  necessary  to  leave  them  for  a  while,  and 
turn  our  attention  to  other  events,  which  will 
ultimately  be  found  to  bear  upon  their  destinies. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

EXPEDITION  OP  THE  BACHELOR  ENCISO  IN  SEARCH  01" 
THE  SEAT  OF  GOVERNMENT  OP  OJEBA. 

[1510.] 

In  calling  to  mind  the  narrative  of  the  last  ex- 
pedition of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  the  reader  will 
doubtless  remember  the  Bachelor  Martin  Fer- 
nandez de  Enciso,  who  was  inspired  by  that 
adventurous  cavalier  with  an  ill-starred  passion 
for  colonizing,  and  freighted  a  vessel  at  San 
Domingo  with  reinforcements  and  supplies  for 
the  settlement  at  San  Sebastian. 

When  the  Bachelor  was  on  the  eve  of  sailing, 
%  number  of  the  loose  hangers-on  of  the  colony 
and  men  encumbered  with  debt,  concerted  to  join 
Ms  ship  from  the  coast  and  the  outports.  Thein 
creditors,  however,  getting  notice  of  thei]  mteu* 


132       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

tioii,  kept  a  close  watch  upon  every  one  that 
went  on  board  while  in  the  harbor,  and  obtained 
an  armed  vessel  from  the  admiral  Don  Diego 
Columbus,  to  escort  the  enterprising  Bachelor 
clear  of  the  island.  One  man,  however,  con- 
trived to  elude  these  precautions,  and,  as  he 
afterwards  rose  to  great  importance,  it  is  proper 
to  notice  him  particularly.  His  name  was  Vasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa.  He  was  a  native  of  Xeres  de 
los  Caballeros,  and  of  a  noble  though  impover- 
ished family.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
service  of  Don  Pedro  Puerto  Carrero,  Lord  of 
Moguer,  and  he  afterwards  enlisted  among  the 
adventurers  who  accompanied  Rodrigo  de  Bas- 
tides  in  his  voyage  of  discovery.  Peter  Martyr, 
in  his  Latin  decades,  speaks  of  him  by  the  appel- 
lation of  "  egregius  digladiator,"  which  has  been 
interpreted  by  some  as  a  skillful  swordsman,  by 
others  as  an  adroit  fencing-master.  He  intimates, 
also,  that  he  was  a  mere  soldier  of  fortune,  of 
loose,  prodigal  habits ;  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  is  first  mtroduced  to  us  justify 
this  character.  He  had  fixed  himself  for  a  time 
in  Hispaniola,  and  undertaken  to  cultivate  a  farm 
at  the  town  of  Salvatierra,  on  the  sea-coast,  but 
in  a  little  time  had  completely  involved  himself 
in  debt  The  expedition  of  Enciso  presented 
him  with  an  opportunity  of  escaping  from  his 
embarrassments,  and  of  indulging  his  adventurous 
habits.  To  elude  the  vigilance  of  his  creditors 
and  of  the  armed  escort,  he  concealed  himself  in 
B  cask,  which  was  conveyed  from  his  farm  on  the 
uea-ODast  on  board  3f  the  vessel,  as  if  containing 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  133 

provisions  for  the  voyage.  When  the  vessel  Avas 
fairly  out  at  sea,  and  abandoned  by  the  escort, 
Vasco  Nunez  emerged  like  an  apparition  from 
liis  cask,  to  the  great  surprise  of  Enciso,  v^^ho 
had  been  totally  ignorant  of  the  stratagem.  The 
Baclielor  was  indignant  at  being  thus  outwitte-d, 
even  though  he  gained  a  recruit  by  the  decep- 
tion ;  and,  in  the  first  ebullition  of  his  wrath, 
gave  the  fugitive  debtor  a  very  rough  reception^ 
threatening  to  put  him  on  shore  on  the  first  un- 
inhabited island  they  should  encounter.  Yasco 
Nuiiez,  however,  succeeded  in  pacifying  him,  "  for 
God,"  says  the  venerable  Las  Casas,  "reserved 
him  for  greater  things."  It  is  probable  the 
Bachelor  beheld  in  him  a  man  well  fitted  for  his 
expedition,  for  Vasco  Nunez  was  in  the  prime 
and  vigor  of  his  days,  tall  and  muscular,  seasoned 
to  hardships,  and  of  intrepid  spirit. 

Arriving  at  the  mainland,  they  touched  at  the 
fatal  harbor  of  Carthagena,  the  scene  of  the  san- 
guinary conflicts  of  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa  with  the 
natives,  and  of  the  death  of  the  brave  Juan  de  la 
Cosa.  Enciso  was  ignorant  of  those  events, 
having  had  no  tidings  from  those  adventurers 
since  their  departure  from  San  Domingo ;  with- 
out any  hesitation,  therefore,  he  landed  a  number 
of  his  men  to  repair  his  boat,  which  was  damaged, 
and  to  procure  water.  While  the  m(!n  were 
worldng  upon  the  boat,  a  multitude  of  Indians 
gathered  at  a  distance,  well  armed  and  with 
menacing  aspect,  sounding  their  shells  and  bran- 
iishing  their  weapons.  The  experience  they  had 
of  the  tremendous  powers  of  the  strangers,  how 


134       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

ever,  rendered  tliem  cautious  of  attacking,  and  for 
three  days  they  hovered  in  this  manner  about  the 
Spaniards,  the  latter  being  obliged  to  keep  con- 
tinually on  the  alert..  At  length  two  of  the 
Spaniards  ventured  one  day  from  the  main  body, 
to  fill  a  water-cask  from  the  adjacent  river 
Scarcely  had  they  reached  the  margin  of  the 
stream,  when  eleven  savages  sprang  from  the 
thickets  and  surrounded  them,  bending  their 
bows  and  pointing  their  arrows.  In  this  way 
they  stood  for  a  moment  or  two  in  fearful  sus- 
pense, the  Indians  refraining  from  discharging 
their  shafts,  but  keepuig  them  constantly  pointed- 
at  their  breasts.  One  of  the  Spaniards  attempted 
to  escape  to  liis  comrades  who  were  repairing  the 
boat,  but  the  other  called  him  back,  and,  under- 
standing something  of  the  Indian  tongue,  ad- 
dressed a  few  amicable  words  to  the  savages. 
The  latter,  astonished  at  being  spoken  to  in  their 
own  language,  now  relaxed  a  little  from  their 
fierceness,  and  demanded  of  the  strangers  who 
they  were,  who  were  their  leaders,  and  what  they 
sought  upon  their  shores.  The  Spaniard  replied 
that  they  were  harmless  people,  who  came  from 
other  lands,  and  merely  touched  there  through 
necessity,  and  he  wondered  that  they  should  meet 
them  with  such  hostility ;  he  at  the  same  time 
warned  them  to  beware,  as  there  would  come 
many  of  his  countrymen  well  armed,  and  would 
wreak  terrible  vengeance  upon  them  for  any 
mischief  they  might  do.  While  they  were  thua 
oaiieying,  the  Bachelor  Enciso,  hearing  that  two 
of  liis  men  were  surrounded  by  the  savages.^ 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLU.UBVS.  135 

sallied  iiistiuitly  from  his  ship,  and  hastened  with 
an  armed  force  to  their  rescue.  As  he  ap- 
proached, however,  the  Spaniard  who  had  held 
•the  parley  made  him  a  signal  that  the  natives 
wer(^  pacific.  In  fact,  the  latter  had  supposed 
that  this  was  a  new  invasion  of  Ojeda  and 
Nicuesa,  and  had  thus  arrayed  themselves,  if  not 
to  take  vengeance  for  past  outrages,  at  least  to 
lefend  their  houses  from  a  second  desolation. 
When  they  were  convinced,  however,  that  these 
were  a  totally  different  band  of  strangers,  and 
without  hostile  intentions,  their  aiaimosity  was  at 
an  end;  they  threw  by  their  weapons,  and  came 
forward  with  the  most  confidmg  frankness. 
During  the  whole  time  that  the  Spaniards  re- 
mained there,  they  treated  them  with  the  greatest 
friendship,  supplying  them  with  bread  made  from 
maize,  with  salted  fish,  and  with  the  fermenXed 
and  spirituous  beverages  common  along  that 
coast.  Such  was  the  magnanimous  conduct  of 
men  who  were  considered  among  the  most 
ferocious  and  warlike  of  these  savage  nations ; 
and  who,  but  recently,  had  beheld  their  shores 
invaded,  their  villages  ravaged  and  burnt,  and 
their  friends  and  relations  butchered,  without 
regard  to  age  or  sex,  by  the  countrymen  of  these 
very  strangers.  When  we  recall  the  bloody  and 
indiscriminate  vengeance  wreaked  upon  this 
people  by  Ojeda  and  his  followers,  for  their 
justifiable  resistance  of  invasion,  and  compare  it 
with  their  placable  and  considerate  spirit  when 
in  opportunity  for  revenge  presented  itself*  we 
confess  we  feel  a  momentary  doubt  wheth^^r  the 


136       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


arbitrary  appellation  of  savage  is  always  applied 
to  tlie  right  party. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

THE   BACHELOR   HEARS   UNWELCOME   TIDINGS   OP  HIS 
DESTINED  JURISDICTION. 

Not  long  after  the  arrival  of  Enciso  at  this 
eventful  harbor,  he  was  surprised  by  the  circum- 
stance of  a  brigantine  entering,  and  coming  to 
anchor.  To  encounter  a  European  sail  in  these 
almost  unknown  seas,  was  always  a  singular  and 
striking  occurrence ;  but  the  astonishment  of  the 
Bachelor  was  muigled  with  alarm  when,  on 
boarding  the  brigantine,  he  found  it  manned  by  a 
number  of  the  men  who  had  embarked  with  Ojeda. 
His  first  idea  was,  that  they  had  mutinied  against 
their  commander,  and  deserted  with  the  vessel. 
The  feelings  of  the  magistrate  were  aroused  with- 
in him  by  the  suspicion,  and  he  determined  to 
take  his  first  step  as  alcalde  mayor,  by  seizing 
them,  and  inflicting  on  them  the  severity  of  the 
law.  He  altered  his  tone,  however,  on  convers- 
ing with  their  resolute  commander.  This  was 
no  other  than  Francisco  Pizarro,  whom  Ojeda 
had  left  as  his  locum  tenens  at  San  Sebastian 
And  who  showed  the  Bachelor  his  letter  patent 
signed  by  that  unfortunate  governor.  In  fact, 
the  little  brig^mtine  contamed  the  sad  remnant  of 
♦iie  once  vaunted  colony.   After  the  departure  of 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  iJOLUMBUS.  137 


Ojeda  in  the  pirate  ship,  his  followers,  whom  he 
had  left  behind  under  the  command  of  Pizarro, 
continued  in  the  fortress  until  the  stipulated  term 
of  fifty  days  had  expired.  Receiving  no  succor, 
and  hearing  no  tidings  of  Ojeda,  they  then  deter- 
mined to  embark  and  sail  for  Hispaniola ;  but 
here  an  unthought  of  difficulty  presented  itself: 
they  were  seventy  in  number,  and  the  two  brig- 
an  tines  which  had  been  left  with  them  were 
incapable  of  taking  so  many.  They  came  to  the 
forlorn  agreement,  therefore,  to  remain  until 
famine,  sickness,  and  the  poisoned  arrows  of  the 
Indians  should  reduce  their  number  to  the 
capacity  of  the  brigantines.  A  brief  space  of 
time  was  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  They  then 
prepared  for  the  voyage.  Four  mares  which 
had  been  kept  alive,  as  terrors  to  the  Indians, 
were  killed,  and  salted  for  sea-stores.  Then 
taking  whatever  other  articles  of  provisions  re- 
mained, they  embarked  and  made  sail.  One 
brigantine  was  commanded  by  Pizarro,  the  other 
by  one  Valenzuela. 

They  had  not  proceeded  far  when,  in  a  storm, 
a  sea  struck  the  crazy  vessel  of  Yalenzuela  with 
such  violence,  as  to  cause  it  to  founder  with  all 
its  crew.  The  other  brigantine  was  so  n(iar,  that 
the  mariners  witnessed  the  struggles  of  their 
drowning  companions,  and  heard  their  cries. 
Some  of  the  sailors,  with  the  common  disposition 
to  the  marvelous,  declared  that  they  beheld  a 
great  whale,  or  some  other  monster  of  the  deep, 
strike  the  vessel  with  its  tail,  and  either  stave  in 
ts  sides  or  shatter  the  rudder,  so  as  to  cause  tho 


138 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


«liipwreck.i  The  surviving  brigantine  then  mad^ 
ihe  best  of  its  way  to  the  harbor  of  Carthagena, 
to  seek  provisions. 

Such  was  the  disastrous  account  rendered  to 
the  Bachelor  by  Pizarro,  of  his  destmed  jurisdic- 
tion. Enciso,  however,  was  of  a  confident  mind 
and  sanguine  temperament,  and  trusted  to  restoro 
all  things  to  order  and  prosperity  on  his  arrival. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CRUSADE  OF  THE  BACHELOR  ENCISO  AGAINST  THE  SEP 
ULCHRES  OF  ZENU. 

The  Bachelor  Enciso,  as  has  been  shown,  was 
a  man  of  the  sword  as  well  as  of  the  robe  ;  hav- 
ing doubtless  imbibed  a  passion  for  military  ex- 
ploit from  his  intimacy  with  the  discoverers. 

Accordingly,  while  at  Carthagena,  he  was  vis- 
ited by  an  impulse  of  the  kind,  and  undertook  an 
enterprise  that  would  have  been  worthy  of  his 
friend  Ojeda.  He  had  been  told  by  the  Indians, 
that  nbout  twenty-five  leagues  to  the  west  lay  a 
province  called  Zenu,  the  mountains  of  which 
abounded  with  the  finest  gold.  This  was  washed 
down  by  torrents  during  the  rainy  season,  in  such 
quantities,  that  the  natives  stretched  nets  across 
tiie  rivers  to  catch  the  largest  particles ;  some  of 
which  were  said  to  be  as  large  as  eggs. 

The  idea  of  taking  gold  in  nets  captivated  the 
i  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  v  ii.  cap.  10. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  133 


/magiuation  of  tlie  Baclielor,  and  his  cupidity 
was  still  more  excited  by  further  accounts  of  thij 
vveaUlij  province.  He  was  told  that  Zenu  was 
the  general  place  of  sepulture  of  the  Indian  tribes 
throughout  the  country,  whither  they  brought 
their  dead,  and  buried  them,  according  to  their 
custom,  decorated  with  their  most  precious  orna- 
ments. 

It  appeared  to  him  a  matter  of  course,  there- 
fore, that  there  must  be  an  immense  accumulation 
of  riches  in  the  Indian  tombs,  from  the  golden 
ornaments  that  had  been  buried  with  the  dead 
through  a  long  series  of  generations.  Fired  with 
the  thought,  he  determined  to  make  a  foray  into 
this  province,  and  to  sack  the  sepulchres  !  Neither 
did  he  feel  any  compunctions  at  the  idea  of  plun- 
dering the  dead,  considering  the  deceased  as  pa- 
gans and  infidels,  who  had  forfeited  even  the 
sanctuary  of  the  grave,  by  having  been  buried 
according  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  their 
idolatrous  religion. 

Enciso,  accordingly,  made  sail  from  Cartha- 
gena,  and  landed  with  his  forces  on  the  coast  of 
Zenu.  Here  he  was  promptly  opposed  by  two 
caciques,  at  the  head  of  a  large  band  of  warriors. 
The  Bachelor,  though  he  had  thus  put  on  the 
soldier,  retained  sufficient  of  the  spirit  of  his  for 
mer  calling,  not  to  enter  into  quarrel  without 
taking  care  to  have  the  law  on  his  side  ;  he  pro- 
rieeded  regularly,  therefore,  according  to  the  lega] 
form  recently  enjoined  by  the  crown.  He  caused 
to  be  read  and  interpreted  to  the  caciques  the 
same  formula  used  by  Ojeda,  expounding  the  na- 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


ture  of  Deity,  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and 
the  right  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  to  all  these 
lands,  by  virtue  of  a  grant  fi'oni  his  Holiness. 
The  caciques  listened  to  the  whole  very  atten- 
tively and  without  interruption,  according  to  the 
laws  of  Indian  courtesy.  They  then  replied, 
that,  as  to  tlie  assertion  that  there  was  but  one 
God,  the  sovereign  of  heaven  and  earth,  it  seemed 
to  them  good,  and  that  such  must  be  the  case  ; 
but  as  to  the  doctrine  that  the  Pope  was  regent 
of  the  world  in  place  of  God,  and  that  he  had 
made  a  grant  of  their  country  to  the  Spanish 
King,  they  observed  that  the  Pope  must  have 
been  drunk  to  give  away  what  was  not  his,  and 
the  King  must  have  been  somewhat  mad  to  ask 
at  his  hands  what  belonged  to  others.  They 
added,  that  they  were  lords  of  those  lands,  and 
needed  no  other  sovereign,  and  if  this  king 
should  come  to  take  possession,  they  would  cut 
off  his  head,  and  put  it  on  a  pole ;  that  being 
their  mode  of  dealing  with  their  enemies.  As 
an  illustration  of  this  custom,  they  pointed  out 
to  Enciso  the  very  uncomfortable  spectacle  of  a 
row  of  grisly  heads  impaled  in  the  neighborhood. 

Nothing  daunted  either  by  the  reply  or  the 
illustration,  the  Bachelor  menaced  them  with  war 
and  slavei-y,  as  the  consequences  of  their  refusal 
to  believe  and  submit.  They  replied  by  threat- 
ening to  put  his  head  upon  a  pole,  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  his  sovereign.  The  Bachelor,  hav- 
ing furnished  them  with  the  law,  now  proceeded 
to  the  commentary.  He  attacked  the  Indians, 
routed  them,  and  took  one  of  the  caciques  pris- 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  141 


oner;  but  in  the  skirmish  two  of  his  men  were 
Bh'ghtly  wounded  with  poisoned  arrows,  and  died 
raving  with  torment.'^ 

It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  his  crusade 
against  the  sepulchres  was  attended  with  any 
lucrative  advantage.  Perhaps  tlie  experience  he 
had  received  of  the  hostility  of  the  natives,  and 
of  the  fatal  effects  of  their  poisoned  arrows,  pre- 
vented his  penetrating  into  the  land  with  his 
scanty  force.  Certain  it  is,  the  reputed  wealth 
of  Zenu,  and  the  tale  of  its  fishery  for  gold  with 
nets,  remained  unascertained  and  uncontradicted, 
and  were  the  cause  of  subsequent  and  disastrous 
enterprises.  The  Bachelor  contented  himself 
with  his  victory,  and  returning  to  his  ships,  pre- 
pared to  continue  his  voyage  for  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment established  by  Ojeda  in  the  Gulf  of 
Uraba. 

1  The  above  anecdote  is  related  by  the  Bachelor  Enciso 
himself,  in  a  Geographical  Work  entitled  Suma  de  Geogra- 
pliia,  which  he  published  in  Seville,  in  1519.  As  the  reply 
of  the  poor  savages  contains  something  of  natural  logic,  we 
give  a  part  of  it  as  reported  by  the  Bachelor.  *'  Respondie- 
ron  me:  que  en  lo  que  dezia  que  no  avia  sino  un  Dios,  y  que 
este  governaba  el  cielo  y  la  tierra,  y  que  era  senor  de  todo,  que 
les  parecia  y  que  asi  debia  ser:  pero  que  en  lo  que  dezia  que 
el  papa  era  seiior  de  todo  el  universo  en  lugarde  Dios,  y  que  el 
avia  fecho  merced  de  aquella  tierra  al  rey  de  Castilla;  dixe- 
ron  que  el  papa  debiera  estar  boracho  quando  lo  hizo,  pues 
dabsL  lo  que  m  era  suyo,  y  que  el  rey  que  pedia  y  tomava  tal 
mere  3d  debia  ser  algun  loco  pues  pedia  lo  que  era  da 
»tros  &c. 


U2      VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  BACHELOR  ARRIVES  AT  SAN  SEBASTIAN. —  HIS  DISAS 
TERS  THERE,  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EXPLOITS  AT  DARIEN. 

It  was  not  without  extreme  difficulty,  and  the 
peremptory  exercise  of  his  authority  as  alcalde 
mayor,  that  Enciso  prevailed  upon  the  crew  of 
Pizarro  to  return  with  him  to  the  fated  shores  of 
San  Sebastian.  He  at  length  arrived  in  sight  of 
the  long  wished-for  seat  of  his  anticipated  power 
and  authority  ;  but  here  he  was  doomed  like  his 
principal,  Ojeda,  to  meet  with  nothing  but  mis- 
fortune. On  entering  the  harbor,  his  vessel 
struck  on  a  rock  on  the  eastern  point.  The 
rapid  currents  and  tumultuous  waves  rent  it  to 
pieces  ;  the  crew  escaped  with  great  difficulty  to 
the  brigantine  of  Pizarro  ;  a  little  flour,  cheese 
and  biscuit,  and  a  small  part  of  the  arms  were 
saved,  but  the  horses,  mares,  swine,  and  other 
colonial  supplies  were  swept  away,  and  the  un- 
fortunate Bachelor  beheld  the  proceeds  of  several 
years  of  prosperous  litigation  swallowed  up  in  an 
instant. 

His  dream  of  place  and  dignity  seemed  equally 
on  the  point  of  vanishing ;  for,  on  landing,  he 
found  the  fortress  and  its  adjacent  houses  mere 
heaps  of  ruins,  having  been  destroyed  with  fire 
by  the  Indians. 

For  a  few  days  the  Spaniards  maintained 
themselves  with  palm  nuts,  and  with  the  flesh  of 
B  kind  of  wild  swine,  of  which  they  met  with 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS  143 


several  herds.  These  supplies  fiiiling,  the  Bach- 
elor sallied  fortli  with  a  hundred  men  to  forage 
the  country.  They  were  waylaid  by  three  In- 
dians, who  discharged  all  the  arrows  in  their 
quivers  with  incredible  rapidity,  wounded  severaJ 
Spaniards,  and  then  fled  with  a  swiftness  that 
defied  pursuit.  The  Spaniards  returned  to  the 
harbor  in  dismay.  All  their  dread  of  the  lurk- 
ing savages  and  their  poisoned  weapons  revived, 
and  they  insisted  upon  abandoning  a  place  marked 
out  for  disaster. 

The  Bachelor  Enciso  was  himself  disheartened 
at  the  situation  of  this  boasted  capital  of  San 
Sebastian  ;  but  whither  could  he  go  where  the 
same  misfortunes  might  not  attend  him  ?  In 
this  moment  of  doubt  and  despondency,  Yasco 
Nuiiez,  the  same  absconding  debtor  who  had  been 
smuggled  on  board  in  the  cask,  stepped  forward 
to  give  counsel.  He  informed  the  Bachelor,  that 
several  years  previous  he  had  sailed  along  that 
coast  with  Rodrigo  de  Bastides.  They  had 
explored  the  whole  Gulf  of  Uraba  ;  and  he  well 
remembered  an  Indian  village  situated  on  the 
western  side,  on  the  banks  of  a  river  which  the 
natives  called  Darien.  The  country  around  was 
fertile  and  abundant,  and  was  said  to  possess 
mines  of  gold  ;  and  the  natives,  though  a  war- 
like race,  never  made  use  of  poisoned  weapons. 
He  oiiered  to  guide  the  Bachelor  to  this  place, 
where  they  might  get  a  supply  of  provisions,  and 
even  found  their  colojiy. 

The  Spaniards  hailed  the  words  of  Yasco 
ITunez,  as  if  revealing  a  land  of  promise.  The 


144      VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Bachelor  adopted  his  advice,  and,  guided  by  him, 
set  sail  for  the  village,  determined  to  eject  the 
inhabitants,  and  take  possession  of  it  as  the  seat 
of  government.  Arrived  at  the  river,  he  landed, 
put  his  men  in  martial  array,  and  marched  along 
the  banks.  The  place  was  governed  by  a  brave 
cacique  named  Zemaco.  He  sent  off  the  women 
and  children  to  a  place  of  safety,  and,  posting 
himself  with  five  hundred  of  his  warriors  on  a 
height,  prepared  to  give  the  intruders  a  warm 
reception.  The  Bachelor  was  a  discoverer  at  all 
points,  pious,  daring,  and  rapacious.  On  be- 
liolding  this  martial  array,  he  recommended  him- 
self and  his  followers  to  God,  making  a  vow  in 
their  name  to  Our  Lady  of  Antigua,"  whose 
image  is  adored  with  great  devotion  in  Seville, 
that  the  first  church  and  town  which  they  built 
should  be  dedicated  to  her,  and  that  they  would 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  Seville  to  offer  the  spoils 
of  the  heathen  at  her  shrine.  Having  thus  en- 
deavored to  propitiate  the  favor  of  Heaven,  and 
to  retain  the  holy  Virgin  in  his  cause,  he  next 
proceeded  to  secure  the  fidelity  of  his  followers. 
Doubting  that  they  might  have  some  lurking 
dread  of  poisoned  arrows,  he  exacted  from  them 
all  an  oath  that  they  would  not  turn  their  backs 
upon  the  foe,  whatever  might  happen.  Never 
did  warrior  enter  into  battle  with  more  prelimi- 
nary forms  and  covenants  than  the  Bachelor 
Enciso.  All  these  points  being  arranged,  he  as- 
sumed the  soldier,  and  attacked  the  enemy  with 
such  valor,  that,  though  they  made  at  fi i\st  a 
bIiow  of  fierce  resistance,  they  were  soon  put  to 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  C0LUMBU8.  145 


flight,  and  many  of  them  slain.  The  Bachelor 
entered  the  village  in  triumph,  took  possession 
of  it  by  unquestionable  right  of  conquest,  and 
plundered  all  the  hamlets  and  houses  of  the  sur- 
rounding country ;  collecting  great  quantities  of 
f»)od  and  cotton,  with  bracelets,  anklets,  plates, 
and  other  ornaments  of  gold,  to  the  value  of  ten 
thousand  castellanos.^  His  heart  was  wonder- 
fully elated  by  his  victory  and  his  booty  ;  his 
followers,  also,  after  so  many  hardships  and  dis- 
asters, gave  themselves  up  to  joy  at  this  turn  of 
good  fortune,  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that 
the  seat  of  government  should  be  established  in 
this  village,  to  which,  in  fulfillment  of  his  vow, 
Enciso  gave  the  name  of  Santa  Maria  de  la 
Antigua  del  Darien. 


CHAPTER  X. 

,  THE  BACHELOR  ENCISO  UNDERTAKES  THE  COMMAND  — 
I  HIS  DOWNFALL. 

The  Bachelor  Enciso  now  entered  upon  the 
I  exercise  of  his  civil  functions  as  alcalde  mayor, 
and  lieutenant  of  the  absent   governor,  Ojeda. 
!   His  first  edict  was  stern   and  peremptory ;  he 
forbade  all  trafficking  with  the  natives  for  gold, 
j  on  private  account,  under  pain  of  death.  This 
'  was  in  conformity  to  royal  command  ;  but  it  was 
j  little  palatable  to  men  who  had  engaged  in  the 
i  Equivalent  to  a  present  sum  f  ^  53,259  dollars. 

VOL.  III.  10 


146 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVI^RIES  OF 


enterprise  in  the  hopes  of  enjoying  free  tr^ule, 
hivvless  hbcrty,  and  golden  gains.  They  mur- 
mured among  themselves,  and  insinuated  that 
Enciso  intended  to  reserve  all  the  profit  to  him 
self. 

Vasco  Nunez  was  the  first  to  take  advantage 
of  the  general  discontent.  He  had  risen  to  con- 
Bcquence  among  his  fellow  adventurers,  from 
having  guided  them  to  this  place,  and  from  his 
own  intrinsic  qualities  ;  being  hardy,  bold  ,  and 
intelligent,  and  possessing  the  random  spirit  and 
open-handed  generosity  common  to  a  soldier  of 
fortune,  and  calculated  to  dazzle  and  delight  the 
multitude. 

He  bore  no  good  will  to  the  Bachelor,  recol- 
lecting his  threat  of  landing  him  on  an  uninhab- 
ited island,  when  he  escaped  in  a  cask  from  San 
Domingo.  He  sought,  therefore,  to  make  a  party 
against  him,  and  to  unseat  him  from  his  com- 
mand. He  attacked  him  in  his  own  way,  with 
legal  weapons,  questioning  the  legitimacy  of  his 
pretensions.  The  boundary  lirte,  he  observed, 
which  separated  the  jurisdictions  of  Ojeda  and 
Nicuesa,  ran  through  the  centre  of  the  Gulf  of 
Uraba.  The  village  of  Darien  lay  on  the  west- 
ern side,  which  had  been  allotted  to  Nicuesa. 
Enciso,  therefore,  as  alcalde  niTiyor  and  lieuten- 
ant of  Ojeda,  could  have  no  jurisdiction  here, 
and  his  assumed  authority  was  a  sheer  usurpa- 
tion. 

The  Spaniards,  already  incensed  at  the  fiscal 
regulations  of  Enciso,  were  easily  convinced  ;  so 
with  one  accord  they  refused  allegiance  to  him ; 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  147 


Rnd  the  unfortunate  Bachelor  found  the  chair  of 
authority  to  which  he  had  so  fondly  and  anx- 
iously aspired,  suddenly  wrested  from  under  him, 
before  he  had  well  time  to  take  his  seat. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PERPLEXITIES  AT  THE  COLONY.  —  ARRIVAL  OF  COLMB- 
NARES. 

To  depose  the  Bachelor  had  been  an  easy 
matter,  for  most  men  are  ready  to  assist  in  pull- 
ing down ;  but  to  choose  a  successor  was  a  task 
of  far  more  difficulty.  The  people  at  first  agreed 
to  elect  mere  civil  magistrates,  and  accordingly 
appointed  Vasco  Nunez  and  one  Zenudio  as 
alcaldes,  togetlier  with  a  cavalier  of  some  merit 
of  the  name  of  Yaldivia,  as  regidor.  They  soon, 
however,  became  dissatisfied  with  this  arrange- 
ment, and  it  was  generally  considered  advisable 
to  vest  the  authority  in  one  person.  Who  ^^his 
person  should  be  was  now  the  question.  Some 
proposed  Nicuesa,  as  they  were  within  his  prov- 
ince ;  others  were  strenuous  for  Vasco  Nunez. 
A  violent  dispute  ensued,  which  was  carried  on 
with  such  heat  and  obstinacy,  that  many,  anxious 
for  a  quiet  life,  declared  it  would  be  better  to 
reinstate  Enciso  until  the  pleasure  of  the  king 
should  be  known. 

In  the  height  of  these  factious  altercations, 
the  Spaniards  were  aroused  one  day  by  the  thun- 


148       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


deriijg  of  cannon  from  the  opposite  side  of  the 
gulf,  and  beheld  columns  of  smoke  rising  from 
tiie  hills.  Astonished  at.  signals  of  civilized  man 
on  these  wild  shores,  they  replied  in  the  same 
manner,  and  in  a  short  time  two  ships  were  seen 
standing  across  the  gulf.  They  proved  to  be  an 
armament  commanded  by  one  Rodrigo  de  Col- 
menares,  and  were  in  search  of  Nicuesa  with 
supplies.  They  had  met  with  the  usual  luck  of 
adventurers  on  this  disastrous  coast,  storms  at 
sea  and  savage  foes  on  shore,  and  many  of  their 
number  had  fallen  by  poisoned  arrows.  Col- 
menares  had  touched  at  San  Sebastian,  to  learn 
tidings  of  Nicuesa  ;  but,  finding  the  fortress  in 
ruins,  had  made  signals,  in  hopes  of  being  heard 
by  the  Spaniards,  should  they  be  yet  lingering  in 
the  neighborhood. 

The  arrival  of  Colmenares  caused  a  temporary 
suspension  of  the  feuds  of  the  colonists.  He 
distributed  provisions  among  them,  and  gained 
their  hearts.  Then,  representing  the  legitimate 
right  of  Nieuesa  to  the  command  of  all  that  part 
of  the  coast  as  a  governor  appointed  by  the  king, 
he  persuaded  the  greater  part  of  the  people  to 
acknowledge  his  authority.  It  was  generally 
agreed,  therefore,  that  he  should  cruise  along  the 
coast  in  search  of  Nicuesa,  and  that  Diego  de 
Albitez,  and  an  active  member  of  the  law,  called 
the  Bachelor  Corral,  should  accompany  him  as 
ambassadors,  to  invite  that  cavalier  to  ^.ome  and 
assume  the  government  of  Darien. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS^  149 


CHAPTER  XII. 

COLMENARES  GOES  IN  QUEST  OF  NICUESA 

RoDRiGO  DE  CoLMENARES  proceeded  along 
the  coast  to  the  westward,  looking  into  every 
bay  and  harbor,  but  for  a  long  time  without  suc- 
cess. At  length  one  day  he  discovered  a  brig- 
anline  at  a  small  island  in  the  sea.  It  was  part 
of  the  armament  of  Nicuesa,  and  had  been  sent 
out  by  him  to  forage  for  provisions.  By  this 
vessel  he  was  piloted  to  the  port  of  Nombre  de 
Dios,  the  nominal  capital  of  the  unfortunate  gov- 
ernor, but  which  was  so  surrounded  and  over- 
shadowed by  forests,  that  he  might  have  passed 
by  without  noticing  it. 

The  arrival  of  Colmenares  was  welcomed  with 
transports  and  tears  of  joy.  It  was  scarcely 
possible  for  hiai  to  recognize  the  once  buoyant 
and  brilliant  Nicuesa  in  the  squalid  and  dejected 
man  before  him.  He  was  living  in  the  most  ab- 
ject misery.  Of  all  his  once  gallant  and  powerful 
band  of  followers,  but  sixty  men  remained,  and 
those  so  feeble,  yellow,  emaciated,  and  woe-be- 
gone,  that  it  was  piteous  to  behold  them.^ 

1  The  harbor  of  Nombre  de  Dios  continued  for  a  long  time 
to  present  traces  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Span.ards.  We  are 
told  by  He  -rera,  that  several  years  after  the  time  here  men- 
tioned, a  band  of  eighty  Spanish  soldiers,  commanded  b}' 
Gonzalo  de  Badajos,  arrived  in  the  harbor  with  an  intention 
"»f  penetrating  into  the  interior.  They  found  there  the 
ruined  fort  of  Nicuesa,  together  with  skulls  and  bones,  and 
crosses  erected  on  heaps  of  stones,  dismal  mementos  of  his 


150 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Colmenares  distributed  food  among  them,  and 
told  them  that  he  had  come  to  convey  them  to  a 
plenteous  country,  and  one  rich  in  gold.  When 
Nicuesa  heard  of  the  settlement  of  Darien,  and 
that  the  inhabitants  had  sent  for  him  to  come 
and  govern  them,  he  was  as  a  man  suddenly 
revived  from  death.  All  the  spirit  and  munifi- 
cence of  the  cavalier  again  awakened  in  him. 
He  gave  a  kind  of  banquet  that  very  day  to  Col- 
menares and  the  ambassadors,  from  the  provisions 
brought  in  the  ship.  He  presided  at  his  table 
with  his  former  hilarity,  and  displayed  a  feat  of 
his  ancient  office  as  royal  carver,  by  holding  up  a 
fowl  in  the  air,  and  dissecting  it  with  wonderful 
adroitness. 

Well  would  it  have  been  for  Nicuesa,  had  the 
sudden  buoyancy  of  his  feelings  carried  him  no 
further  ;  but  adversity  had  not  taught  him  pru- 
dence. In  conversing  with  the  envoys  about  the 
colony  of  Darien,  he  already  assumed  the  tone 
of  governor,  and  began  to  disclose  the  kind  of 
policy  with  which  he  intended  to  rule.  When 
he  heard  that  great  quantities  of  gold  had  been 
collected  and  retained  by  private  individuals,  his 
ire  was  kindled.  He  vowed  to  make  them  re- 
fund it,  and  even  talked  of  punishing  them  for 
trespassing  upon  the  privileges  and  monopolies 

followers  who  had  perished  of  hunger  ;  the  sight  of  which 
.•itruck  such  horror  and  dismay  into  the  hearts  of  the  soldiers, 
that  they  would  have  abandoned  their  enterprise,  had  not 
Iheir  intrepid  captain  immediately  sent  away  the  ships,  and 
thus  depriv^ed  them  of  the  means  of  retreating,  llerrera, 
decad.  xi.  lib.  *. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  151 


of  the  crown.  This  was  the  very  error  tliat  had 
unsealed  the  Bachelor  Enciso  from  his  govern- 
ment, and  it  was  a  strong  measure  for  one  to 
threaten,  who,  as  yet,  was  governor  but  in  expec- 
tation. The  menace  was  not  lost  upon  the  watch- 
ful ambassadors  Diego  de  Albitez  and  the  Bache 
lor  Corral.  They  were  put  still  more  on  the 
alert  by  a  conversation  held  that  very  evening 
with  Lope  de  Olano,  who  was  still  detained  a 
prisoner  for  his  desertion,  but  who  found  means 
to  commune  with  the  envoys,  and  to  prejudice 
them  against  his  unsuspecting  commander.  "  Take 
warning,"  said  he,  "  by  my  treatment.  I  sent 
relief  to  Nicuesa,  and  rescued  him  from  death 
when  starving  on  a  desert  island.  Behold  my 
recompense.  He  repays  me  with  imprisonment 
and  chains.  Such  is  the  gratitude  the  people  of 
Darien  may  look  for  at  his  hands  ! " 

The  subtle  Bachelor  Corral  and  his  fellow 
envoy  laid  these  matters  to  heart,  and  took  their 
measures  accordingly.  They  hurried  to  depart 
before  Nicuesa,  and  setting  all  sail  on  their  cara- 
vel, hastened  back  to  Darien.  The  moment  they 
arrived  they  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  princi- 
pal inhabitants.  "  A  blessed  change  we  have 
made,"  said  they,  in  summoning  this  Diego  de 
Nicuesa  to  the  command  !  We  have  called  in 
the  stork  to  take  the  rule,  who  will  not  rest  sat* 
isfied  until  he  has  devoured  us."  They  ther* 
related,  with  the  usual  exaggeration,  the  un* 
guarded  tlireats  which  had  fallen  from  Nicuesa, 
and  instanced  his  treatment  of  Olano  as  a  proof 
af  a  tyrannous  and  ungrateful  disposition. 


152       VOYAGJi:S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


The  words  of  the  subtle  Bachelor  Corral  and 
his  associate  produced  a  violent  agitation  among 
the  people,  especially  among  those  who  had 
amassed  treasures,  which  would  have  to  be  re- 
funded. Nicuesa,  too,  bj  a  transaction  which 
almost  destroys  sympathy  in  his  favor,  gave  time 
for  their  passions  to  ferment.  On  his  way  to 
Darien,  he  stopped  for  several  days  among  a 
group  of  small  islands,  for  the  purpose  of  cap- 
turing Indians  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  While  com- 
mitting these  outrages  against  humanity,  he  sent 
forward  Juan  de  Cayzedo  in  a  boat,  to  announce 
his  coming.  His  messenger  had  a  private  pique 
against  him,  and  played  him  false.  He  assured 
the  people  of  Darien,  that  all  they  had  been  told 
by  their  envoys  concerning  the  tyranny  and  in- 
gratitude of  Nicuesa,  was  true  ;  —  that  he  treated 
his  followers  with  wanton  severity ;  that  he  took 
from  them  all  they  won  in  battle,  saying  that  the 
spoils  were  his  rightful  property  ;  and  that  it  was 
his  intention  to  ti-eat  the  people  of  Darien  in  the 
same  manner.  "  What  folly  is  it  in  you,"  added 
he,  "  being  your  own  masters,  and  in  such  free 
condition,  to  send  for  a  tyrant  to  rule  ovei 
you  ! " 

The  people  of  Darien  were  convinced  by  this 
concurring  testimony,  and  confounded  by  the 
overwhelming  evil  they  had  thus  invoked  upon 
their  heads.  They  had  deposed  Enciso  for  his 
severity,  and  they  had  thrown  themselves  into 
the  power  of  one  who  threatened  to  be  ten  times 
more  severe !  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa  observed 
their  perplexity  and  consternation.    He  drew 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  153 


bne  by  one  apart,  and  conversed  with  tlieni  in 
private.  "  Yoa  are  cast  down  in  heart,"  said  he, 
''and  so  you  might  well  be,  v/ere  the  evil  beyond 
all  cure.  But  do  not  despair ;  there  is  an  effec- 
tual relief,  and  you  hold  it  in  your  hands.  If 
you  have  committed  an  error  .in  inviting  Nicuesa 
to  Darien,  it  is  easily  remedied  by  not  receiving 
him  when  he  comes  ! "  The  obviousness  and 
simplicity  of  the  remedy  struck  every  mind,  and 
it  was  unanimously  adopted. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

CATASTROPHE  OF  THE  UNFORTUNATE  NICUESA 

While  this  hostile  plot  was  maturing  at 
Darien,  the  unsuspecting  Nicuesa  pursued  his 
voyage  leisurely  and  serenely,  and  arrived  in 
Safety  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  On  approach- 
ing the  shore  he  beheld  a  multitude,  headed  by 
Vasco  Nunez,  waiting,  as  he  supposed,  to  receive 
him  with  all  due  honor.  He  was  about  to  land, 
when  the  public  procurator,  or  attorney,  called 
to  him  with  a  loud  voice,  warning  him  not  to 
disembark,  but  to  return  with  all  speed  to  his 
government  at  Nombre  de  Dios. 

Nicuesa  remained  for  a  moment  as  if  thunder- 
Btruck  by  so  unlooked-for  a  salutation.  When  he 
recovered  his  self-possession,  he  reminded  them 
that  he  had  come  at  their  own  request :  he  en- 
treated, therefore,  that  he  might  be  allowed  to 


154 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


land  and  have  an  explanation,  after  which  he 
would  be  ready  to  act  as  they  should  think 
proper.  His  entreaties  only  provoked  insolent 
replies,  and  threats  of  violence,  should  he  ven- 
ture to  put  foot  on  shore.  Night  coming  on,  he 
was  obliged  to  stand  out  to  sea,  but  returned  the 
next  morning,  hoping  to  find  this  capricious  peo- 
ple in  a  different  mood. 

There  did,  indeed,  appear  to  be  a  favorable 
change,  for  he  was  now  invited  to  land.  It  was 
a  mere  stratagem,  to  get  him  in  their  power,  for 
no  sooner  did  he  set  foot  on  shore,  than  the  mul- 
titude rushed  forward  to  seize  him.  Among 
his  many  bodily  endowments,  Nicuesa  was  noted 
for  swiftness  of  foot.  He  now  trusted  to  it  for 
safety,  and,  throwing  off  the  dignity  of  governor, 
fled  for  his  life  along  the  shore,  pursued  by  the 
rabble.  He  soon  distanced  his  pursuers,  and 
took  refuge  in  the  woods. 

Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  who  was  himself  a 
man  of  birth,  seeing  this  high-bred  cavalier  re- 
duced to  such  extremity,  and  at  the  mercy  of  a 
violent  rabble,  repented  of  what  he  had  done. 
He  had  not  anticipated  such  popular  fury,  and 
endeavored,  though  too  late,  to  allay  the  tempest 
he  had  raised.  He  succeeded  in  preventing  the 
people  from  pursuing  Nicuesa  into  the  forest, 
and  then  endeavored  to  mollify  the  vindictive 
rage  of  his  fellow-alcalde,  Zamudio,  whose  hos- 
tility was  quickened  by  the  dread  of  losing  his 
office,  should  the  new  governor  be  received  ;  and 
who  was  supported  in  his  boisterous  conduct  by 
whe  natural  love  of  the  multitude  for  what  are 


THE  COMrAN/OA^S  OF  COLU  UBUS  155 


Railed  "  strong  measures."  Niciiesa  now  h'^^ld  a 
parley  with  the  populace,  through  the  mediation 
I  of  Vasco  Nunez.  He  begged  that,  if  they  would 
not  acknowledge  him  as  governor,  they  would  at 
least  admit  him  as  a  companion.  This  they 
!  refused,  saying,  that  if  they  admitted  him  in  one 
capacity,  he  would  end  by  attaining  to  the  other 
He  then  implored  that,  if  he  could  be  admitted 
on  no  other  terms,  they  would  treat  him  as  a 
prisoner,  and  put  him  in  irons,  for  he  would 
rather  die  among  them  than  return  to  Nombre 
de  Dios,  to  perish  of  famine,  or  by  the  arrows 
of  the  Indians. 

It  was  in  vain  that  Yasco  Nunez  exerted  his 
eloquence  to  obtain  some  grace  for  this  unhappy 
cavalier.  His  voice  was  drowned  by  the  vocif- 
erations of  the  multitude.  Among  these  was  a 
noisy,  swaggering  fellow  named  Francisco  Beni- 
tez,  a  great  talker  and  jester,  who  took  a  vulgar 
triumph  in  the  distresses  of  a  cavalier,  and  an- 
swered every  plea  in  his  behalf  with  scoffs  and 
jeers.  He  was  an  adherent  of  the  alcalde 
Zamudio,  and  under  his  patronage  felt  embol- 
dened to  bluster.  His  voice  was  ever  uppermost 
in  the  general  clamor,  until,  to  the  expostulations 
of  Vasco  Nunez,  he  replied  by  merely  bawling, 
with  great  vociferation,  "  No,  no,  no  !  —  we  will 
receive  no  such  a  fellow  among  us  as  Nicuesa ! 
The  patience  of  Yasco  Nunez  was  exhausted  ; 
he  availed  himself  of  his  authority  as  alcalde, 
and  suddenly,  before  his  fellow-magistr-tite  could 
interfere,  ordered  the  brawling  ruffian  U\  be  re- 


156 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVLRTES  OF 


warded  with  a  hundred  lashes,  which  were  taled 
out  roundly  to  him  upon  the  shoulders.^ 

Seeing  that  tlie  fury  of  the  populace  was  not 
to  be  pacified,  he  sent  word  to  Nicuesa  to  retire 
to  his  brigantine,  and  not  to  venture  on  shore 
until  advised  by  him  to  do  so.  The  counsel  was 
fruitless.  Nicuesa,  above  deceit  himself,  sus- 
pected it  not  in  others.  He  retired  to  his  brig- 
untine,  it  is  true,  but  suffered  himself  to  bo 
inveigled  on  shore  by  a  deputation  professing  to 
come  on  the  part  of  the  public,  with  offers  to 
reinstate  him  as  governor.  He  was  scarcely 
landed  when  he  was  set  upon  by  an  armed  band, 
headed  by  the  base-minded  Zamudio,  who  seized 
him,  and  compelled  him,  by  menaces  of  death,  to 
swear  that  he  would  immediately  depart,  and 
make  no  delay  in  any  place  until  he  had  pre- 
sented himself  before  the  king  dnd  council  in 
Castile. 

In  vain  Nicuesa  reminded  them  that  he  was 
governor  of  that  territory,  and  representative  of 
the  king,  and  that  tiiey  were  guilty  of  treason  in 
thus  opposing  him  ;  in  vain  he  appealed  to  their 
humanity,  or  protested  before  God  against  their 
cruelty  and  persecution.  The  people  were  in 
that  state  of  tumult  when  they  are  apt  to  add 
cruelty  to  injustice.  Not  content  with  expelling 
the  discarded  governor  from  their  shores,  they 
allotted  Jiim  the  worst  vessel  in  the  harbor  ;  an 
old  crazy  brigantine,  totally  unfit  to  encounter 
the  perils  and  labors  of  the  sea. 

Seventeen  followers  embarked  with  him  ;  some 
1  Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  68. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  157 


being  of  his  household  and  attached  to  his  per- 
son  ;  the  rest  were  vohinteers,  who  accompanied 
him  )ut  of  respect  and  sympathy.  The  frail 
bark  set  sail  on  the  first  of  March,  1511,  and 
steered  across  the  Carribbean  Sea  for  the  island 
of  Hispaniola,  but  was  never  seen  or  heard  of 
more  ! 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  pene- 
trate the  mystery  that  covers  the  fate  of  the 
brigantine  and  its  crew.  A  rumor  prevailed  some 
years  afterwards,  that  several  Spaniards,  wan- 
dering along  the  shore  of  Cuba,  found  the  fol- 
lowing inscription  carved  on  a  tree  :  — - 

Aqui  fenecio  el  desdichado  Nicuesa.i 

Hence  it  Avas  inferred  that  he  and  his  followers 
had  landed  there,  and  been  massacred  by  the 
Indians.  Las  Casas,  however,  discredits  the 
story.  He  accompanied  the  first  Spaniards  who 
took  possession  of  Cuba,  and  heard  nothing  of 
the  fact,  as  he  most  probably  would  have  done 
had  it  really  occurred.  He  imagines,  rather, 
that  the  crazy  bark  was  swallowed  up  by  the 
storms  and  currents  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  or 
that  the  crew  perished  with  hunger  and  thirst, 
having  been  but  scantily  supplied  with  provisions. 
The  good  old  bishop  adds,  with  the  superstitious 
feeling  prevalent  in  that  age,  that  a  short  time 
before  Nicuesa  sailed  from  Spain  on  his  expedi- 
tion, an  astrologer  warned  him  not  to  depart  on 
the  day  he  had  appointed,  or  under  a  certain 
sign  ;  the  cavalier  replied,  however,  that  he  had 
1  Here  perished  the  ur* fortunate  Nicuesa. 


158     VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC. 

less  confidence  in  the  stars  than  in  God  who 
made  them.  I  recollect,  moreover,"  adds  Las 
Casas,  "  that  about  this  time  a  comet  was  seen 
over  this  island  of  Hispaniola,  which,  if  I  do  not 
forget,  was  in  the  shape  of  a  sword ;  and  it  was 
Baid  that  a  monk  warned  several  of  those  about 
to  embark  with  Nicuesa,  to  avoid  that  captain^ 
for  the  heavens  foretold  he  was  destined  to  be 
lost.  The  same,  however,"  he  concludes,  "  might 
be  said  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who  sailed  at  the 
Bame  time,  yet  returned  to  San  Domingo,  anc' 
died  in  his  bed."  ^ 


1  Las  Casas,  ut.  sup.  cap.  »8. 


VASCO  NUNEZ  DE  BALBOA, 

DISCOVERER  OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN 
CHAPTER  L 

FACTIONS  OP  DARIEN.  — VASCO  NUNEZ  ELEVATED  TO  THl 
COMMAND. 

E  have  traced  the  disastrous  fortunes  of 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda  and  Diego  de  Nicuesa ; 
we  have  now  to  record  the  story  of 
Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  an  adventurer  equally 
daring,  far  more  renowned,  and  not  less  unfortu- 
nate, who  in  a  manner  rose  upon  their  ruins. 

When  the  bark  disappeared  from  view  which 
bore  the  ill-starred  Nicuesa  from  the  shores  of 
Darien,  the  community  relapsed  into  factions,  as 
to  who  should  have  the  rule.  The  Bachelor  En- 
ciso  insisted  upon  his  claims  as  paramount,  but 
met  with  a  powerful  opponent  in  Vasco  Nunez, 
who  had  become  a  great  favorite  with  the  people, 
from  his  frank  and  fearless  character,  and  his  win- 
ning affability.  In  fact,  he  was  peculiarly  cal- 
culated to  manage  the  fiery  and  factious,  yet 
generous  and  susceptible,  nature  of  his  country- 
men ;  for  the  Spaniards,  though  proud  and  resent- 
ful, and  impatient  of  indignity  or  restraint,  ar*i 


IGO       VOYAGi:S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Easily  dazzled  by  valor,  and  won  by  courtesy  and 
kindness.  Vasco  Nunez  had  the  external  requi- 
sites  also  to  captivate  the  multitude.  He  was 
now  about  thirty-five  years  of  age ;  tall,  well- 
formed,  and  vigorous,  with  reddish  hair,  and  an 
cpen,  prepossessing  countenance.  His  office  of 
alcalde,  while  it  clothed  him  with  influence  and 
importance,  tempered  those  irregular  and  disso- 
lute habits  he  might  have  indulged  while  a  mere 
soldier  of  fortune ;  and  his  superior  talent  soon 
gave  him  a  complete  ascendency  over  his  official 
colleague  Zamudio.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  set 
on  foot  a  vigorous  opposition  to  Enciso.  Still  he 
proceeded  according  to  the  forms  of  law,  and  sum- 
moned the  Bachelor  to  trial,  on  the  charge  of 
usurping  the  powers  of  alcalde  mayor,  on  the 
mere  appointment  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  whose  ju- 
risdiction did  not  extend  to  this  province. 

Enciso  was  an  able  lawyer,  and  pleaded  his 
cause  skillfully  ;  but  his  claims  were,  in  fact,  falla- 
cious, and,  had  they  not  been  so,  he  had  to  deal 
with  men  who  cared  little  for  law ;  who  had  been 
irritated  by  his  legal  exactions,  and  who  were 
disposed  to  be  governed  by  a  man  of  the  sword 
rather  than  of  the  robe.  He  w^as  readily  found 
guilty,  therefore,  and  thrown  into  prison,  and  all 
his  property  was  confiscated.  This  was  a  violent 
verdict,  and  rashly  executed  ;  but  justice  seethed 
\o  grow  fierce  and  wild  when  transplanted  to  the 
wilderness  of  the  New  World.  Still  there  is  no 
place  where  wrong  can  be  committed  with  impu- 
nity ;  the  oppression  of  the  Bachelor  Enciso, 
though  exercised  under  the  forms  of  law,  and  in 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS  161 


a  region  remote  from  the  pale  of  civilized  life,  re- 
dounded to  the  eventful  injuiy  of  Vasco  Nunez, 
and  contributed  to  blast  the  fruits  of  that  ambi- 
tion it  was  intended  to  promote. 

The  fortunes  of  the  enterprising  Bachelor  had 
indeed  run  strangely  counter  to  the  prospects  with 
which  he  had  embarked  at  San  Domingo ;  he  had 
become  a  culprit  at  the  bar  instead  of  a  judge 
upon  the  bench  ;  and  now  was  left  to  ruminate 
in  a  prison,  on  the  failure  of  his  late  attempt  at 
general  command.  His  friends,  however,  inter- 
ceded warmly  in  his  behalf,  and  at  length 
obtained  his  release  from  confinement,  and  per- 
mission for  him  to  return  to  Spain.  Vasco  Nu- 
nez foresaw  that  the  lawyer  would  be  apt  to  plead 
his  cause  more  effectually  at  the  court  of  Castile, 
than  he  had  done  before  the  partial  and  preju- 
diced tribunal  of  Darien.  He  prevailed  upon  his 
fellow-alcalde  Zamudio,  therefore,  who  was  impli- 
cated with  him  in  the  late  transactions,  to  return 
to  Spain  in  the  same  vessel  with  the  Bachelor,  so 
as  to  be  on  the  spot  to  answer  his  charges,  and  to 
give  a  favorable  report  of  the  case.  He  was  also 
instructed  to  set  forth  the  services  of  Vasco  Nu- 
nez, both  in  guiding  the  colonists  to  this  place, 
and  in  managing  the  affairs  of  the  settlement ; 
and  to  dwell  with  emphasis  on  the  symptoms  of 
great  riches  in  the  surrounding  country. 

The  Bachelor  and  the  alcalde  embarked  in  a 
email  caravel ;  and,  as  it  was  to  touch  at  Hispan- 
iola,  Vasco  Nunez  sent  his  confidential  friend 
the  regidor  Valdivia,  to  that  island,  to  obtain  pro- 
visions and  recruits.    He  secretly  put  into  his 

VOL.  m.  11 


IC)2       yOYAGFS  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


hfinds  a  round  sum  of  gold,  as  a  present  to  Mi- 
—  guel  <]e  Passiimonte,  the  royal  treasurer  of  His- 
paniola,  whom  he  knew  to  have  great  credit  with 
the  king,  and  to  be  invested  with  extensive  pow- 
ers, craving  at  the  same  time  his  protection  in  the 
New  World  and  his  influence  at  court. 

Having  taken  these  shrewd  precautions,  Vasco 
Nunez  saw  the  caravel  depart  without  dismay, 
though  bearing  to  Spain  his  most  dangerous  en- 
emy ;  he  consoled  himself,  moreover,  with  the 
reflection  that  it  likewise  bore  off  his  fellow-al- 
calde Zamudio,  and  thus  left  him  in  sole  com- 
mand of  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  11. 

EXPEDITION  TO  COYBA.  — VASCO  NUNEZ  RECEIVES  THB 
DAUGHTER  OF  A  CACIQUE  AS  HOSTAGE. 

Vasco  Nunez  now  exerted  himself  to  prove 
his  capacity  for  the  government  to  which  he  had 
aspired  ;  and  as  he  knew  that  no  proof  was  more 
convincing  to  King  Ferdinand  than  ample  remit 
tances,  and  that  gold  covered  all  sins  in  the  New 
World,  his  first  object  was  to  discover  those  parts 
of  the  country  which  most  abounded  in  the  pre- 
cious metals.  Hearing  exaggerated  reports  of 
the  riches  of  a  province  about  thirty  leagues  dis- 
tant, called  Coyba,  he  sent  Francisco  Pizarro 
with  six  men  to  explore  it. 

The  cacique  Zemaco,  the  native  lord  of  Dariea, 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  1C3 


ivho  cherished  a  bitter  hostility  against  the  Eu- 
ropean intruders,  and  hovered  with  his  warriors 
about  the  settlement,  received  notice  of  tliis  de- 
tachment from  his  spies,  and  phmted  himself  in 
ambush  to  wayhiy  and  destroy  it.  The  Span- 
iards had  scarcely  proceeded  three  leagues  along 
the  course  of  the  river,  when  a  host  of  savages 
burst  upon  them  from  the  surrounding  thickets,  ut- 
tering frightful  yells,  and  discharging  showers  of 
stones  and  arrows.  Pizarro  and  his  men,  though 
sorely  bruised  and  wounded,  rushed  into  the 
thickest  of  the  foe,  slew  many,  wounded  more, 
and  put  the  rest  to  flight ;  but  fearing  another  as- 
sault, made  a  precipitate  retreat,  leaving  one  of 
their  companions,  Francisco  Hernan,  disabled  on 
the  field.  They  arrived  at  the  settlement  crip- 
pled and  bleeding  ;  but  when  Vasco  Nuiiez  heard 
the  particulars  of  the  action,  his  anger  was  roused 
against  Pizarro,  and  he  ordered  him,  though 
wounded,  to  return  immediately  and  recover  the 
disabled  man.  "  Let  it  not  be  said,  for  shame," 
said  he,  "  that  Spaniards  fled  before  savages,  and 
left  a  comrade  in  their  hands!"  Pizarro  felt  the 
rebuke,  returned  to  the  scene  of  combat,  and 
brought  off  Francisco  Hernan  in  safety. 

Nothino  havino:  been  heard  of  Nicuesa  since 
his  departure,  Vasco  Nunez  despatched  two  brig- 
Hntines  for  those  followers  of  that  unfortunate 
adventurer  who  had  remained  at  Nombre  de 
Dios.  They  were  overjoyed  at  being  rescued 
from  their  forlorn  situation,  and  conveyed  to  a 
settlement  where  there  was  some  prospect  of  com- 
fortable subsistence.    The  brigantines,  in  coasting 


164       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


tlie  shores  of  the  Isthmus,  picked  up  two  Span 
ia^'ds,  dad  in  painted  skins,  and  looking  as  wild 
as  ilie  native  Indians.  These  men,  to  escape  soma 
punishment,  had  fled  from  the  ship  of  Nicuesa 
about  a  year  and  a  half  before,  and  taken  refuge 
with  Careta,  the  cacique  of  Coyba.  The  savage 
chieftain  had  treated  them  with  hospitable  kind- 
ness ;  their  first  return  for  which,  now  that  they 
found  themselves  safe  among  their  countrymen, 
was  to  advise  the  latter  to  invade  the  cacique  in 
his  dwelling,  where  they  assured  them  they  would 
find  immense  booty.  Finding  their  suggestions 
listened  to,  one  of  them  proceeded  to  Darien,  to 
serve  as  a  guide  to  any  expedition  that  might  be 
set  on  foot ;  the  other  returned  to  the  cacique,  to 
assist  in  betraying  him. 

Vasco  Nunez  was  elated  by  the  intelligence 
received  through  these  vagabonds  of  the  wilder- 
ness. He  chose  a  hundred  and  thirty  well- 
armed  and  resolute  men,  and  set  off  for  Coyba. 
The  cacique  received  the  Spaniards  in  his  man- 
sion with  the  accustomed  hospitality  of  a  savage, 
setting  before  them  meat  and  drink,  and  whatever 
his  house  afforded  ;  but  when  Vasco  Nunez 
asked  for  a  large  supply  of  provisions  for  the  col- 
ony, he  declared  that  he  had  none  to  spare,  his 
people  having  been  prevented  from  cultivating 
the  soil  by  a  war  which  he  was  waging  with  the 
neighboring  cacique  of  Ponca.  The  Spanish  out- 
east,  who  had  remained  to  betray  his  benefactor, 
uow  took  Vasco  Nunez  aside,  and  assured  him 
that  the  cacique  had  an  abundant  hoard  of  pro- 
visions in  secret ;  he  advised  him,  however,  to 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  1G5 


seeiri  to  believe  his  words,  and  to  make  a  pre- 
tended departure  for  Darien  with  his  troops,  but 
to  return  in  the  night  and  take  the  viUage  by 
surprise.  Vasco  Nunez  adopted  the  advice  of 
the  traitor.  ^He  took  a  cordial  leave  of  Careta, 
and  set  off  for  the  settlement.  In  the  dead  of 
tlie  night,  however,  when  the  savages  were  bu- 
ried in  deep  sleep,  Vasco  Nunez  led  his  men  into 
the  midst  of  the  village,  and,  before  the  inhabi- 
tants could  rouse  themselves  to  resistance,  made 
captives  of  Careta,  his  wives,  and  children,  and 
many  of  his  people.  He  discovered  also  the 
hoard  of  provisions,  with  which  he  loaded  two 
brigantines,  and  returned  with  his  booty  and  his 
captives  to  Darien. 

When  the  unfortunate  cacique  beheld  his  fam- 
ily in  chains,  and  in  the  hands  of  strangers,  his 
heart  was  wrung  with  despair ;  "  What  have  1 
done,"  said  he  to  Vasco  Nunez,  "  that  thou 
shouldst  treat  me  thus  cruelly  ?  None  of  thy 
people  ever  came  into  my  land  that  were  not  fed, 
and  sheltered,  and  treated  with  loving  kindness. 
When  thou  camest  to  my  dwelling,  did  1  meet 
thee  with  a  javelin  in  my  hand  ?  Did  I  not  set 
meat  and  drink  before  thee,  and  welcome  thee  as 
a  brother  ?  Set  me  fiee,  therefore,  with  my  fam- 
ily and  people,  and  we  will  remain  thy  friends. 
We  will  supply  thee  with  provisions,  and  reveal 
*o  thee  the  riches  of  the  land.  Dost  thou  doubt 
my  faith  ?  Behold  my  daughter,  I  give  her  to 
thee  as  a  pledge  of  friendship.  Take  her  for  thy 
wife,  and  be  assured  of  the  fidelity  of  her  family 
and  her  people  ! " 


16G       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Vasco  Nuiiez  felt  the  force  of  these  words,  anil 
knew  the  importance  of  forming  a  sti'ong  alliance 
among  the  natives.  The  captive  maid,  also,  as 
she  stood  trembling  and  dejected  before  him, 
found  great  favor  in  his  eyes,  for  sl^i  was  young 
and  beautiful.  He  granted,  therefore,  the  prayer 
of  the  cacique,  and  accepted  his  daughter,  engag- 
nig,  moreover,  to  aid  the  father  against  his  ene- 
mies, on  condition  of  his  furnishing  provisions  to 
the  colony. 

Careta  remained  three  days  at  Darien,  during 
which  time  he  was  treated  with  the  utmost  kind- 
ness. Vasco  Nunez  took  him  on  board  of  his 
ships,  and  showed  him  every  part  of  them.  He 
displayed  before  him  also  the  war-horses,  w^ith 
their  armor  and  rich  caparisons,  and  astonished 
him  with  the  thunder  of  artillery.  Lest  he 
should  be  too  much  daunted  by  these  warlike  spec- 
tacles, he  caused  the  musicians  to  perform  a  har- 
monious concert  on  their  instruments,  at  w^hich 
the  cacique  was  lost  in  admiration.  Thus  having 
impressed  him  with  a  wonderful  idea  of  the 
power  and  endowments  of  his  new  allies,  he 
loaded  him  with  presents,  and  permitted  him  to 
depart.^ 

Careta  returned  joyfully  to  his  territories,  and 
his  daughter  remained  with  Yasco  Nunez,  will- 
ingly for  his  sake  giving  up  her  family  and  na- 
tive home.  They  were  never  married,  but  she 
considered  herself  his  wife,  as  she  really  was,  ac- 
cording to  the  usages  of  her  own  country ;  and 
Ue  treated  her  with  fondness,  allowing  her  grad- 
i  P.  Martyr,  decad.  iii.  cap.  6. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  167 


uallj  to  acquire  great  influence  over  him.  To 
his  afFection  for  this  damsel,  his  ultimate  ruin  ia 
-  in  some  measure  to  be  ascribed. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

VASCO  NUNEZ  HEARS  OF  A  SEA  BEYOND  TUE  MOUNTAINS 

Vasco  Nunez  kept  his  word  with  the  father 
^f  his  Indian  beauty.  Taking  with  liim  eighty 
^en,  and  iiis  companion  in  arms,  Rodrigo  Enri- 
quez  de  Colmenares,  he  repaired  by  sea  to  Coyba, 
^he  province  of  the  cacique.  Here  landing,  he 
invaded  the  territories  of  Ponca,  the  great  adver- 
sary of  Careta,  and  obliged  him  to  take  refuge  in 
the  mountains.  He  then  ravaged  his  lands,  and 
sacked  his  villages,  in  which  lie  found  consid- 
ei'able  booty.  Returning  to  Coyba,  where  he 
was  joyfully  entertained  by  Careta,  he  next  made 
a  friendly  visit  to  the  adjacent  province  of  Com- 
agre,  which  was  under  the  sway  of  a  cacique,  of 
the  same  name,  who  had  3,000  fighting  men  at 
his  command. 

This  province  was  situated  at  the  foot  of  a 
lofty  mountain  in  a  beautiful  plain,  twelve  leagues 
in  extent.  On  the  approach  of  Vasco  Nunez,  the 
cacique  came  forth  to  meet  him,  attended  by 
seven  sons,  all  fine  young  men,  the  offspring  of 
his  various  wives.  He  was  followed  by  his  piin- 
cipal  chiefs  and  warriors,  and  by  a  multitude  of 
his  people     The  Spaniards  were  conducted 


1G8       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  (F 


great  ceremony  to  the  village,  where  qnaricrg 
were*  assigned  them,  and  they  were  furnishea 
with  abundance  of  provisions,  and  men  and 
women  were  appointed  to  attend  upon  them. 

The  dwelling  of  the  cacique  surpassed  an} 
they  had  yet  seen  for  magnitude,  and  for  the  skill 
and  solidity  of  the  architecture.  It  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  paces  in  length,  and  eighty  in 
breadth,  founded  upon  great  logs,  surrounded  with 
a  stone  wall  ;  while  the  upper  part  was  of  wood- 
work, curiously  interwoven,  and  wrought  with 
such  beauty  as  to  cause  surprise  and  admiration. 
It  contained  many  commodious  apartments.  There 
were  store-rooms  also ;  one  filled  with  bread,  with 
venison,  and  other  provisions  ;  another  with  va- 
rious spirituous  beverages,  which  the  Indians 
made  from  maize,  from  a  species  of  the  palm,  and 
from  roots  of  different  kinds.  There  was  also  a 
great  hall  in  a  retired  and  secret  part  of  the 
building,  wherein  Comagre  preserved  the  bodies 
of  his  ancestors  and  relatives.  These  had  beec 
dried  by  the  fire,  so  as  to  free  them  from  corrup- 
tion, and  afterwards  wrapped  in  mantles  of  cot- 
ton, richly  wrought,  and  interwoven  with  pearls 
and  jewels  of  gold,  and  with  certain  stones  held 
precious  by  the  natives.  They  were  then  hung 
about  the  hall  with  cords  of  cotton,  and  regarded 
with  great  reverence,  if  not  with  religious  devo^ 
tion.  > 

The  eldest  son  of  the  cacique  was  of  a  lofty 
and  generous  spirit,  and  distinguished  above  the 
rest  by  his  superior  intelligence  and  sagacity. 
Perceiving,  says  old  Peter  Martyr,  that  the  Spai?* 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLl/MBDS.  169 


iards  were  a  "  wandering  kind  of  men,  living 
oidy  by  shifts  and  spoil,"  he  sought  to  gain  fa- 
vor for  himself  and  family  by  gratifying  their 
avarice.  He  gave  Yasco  Nunez  and  Colmenares, 
therefore,  4,000  ounces  of  gold,  wrought  into  va- 
rious ornaments,  together  with  sixty  slaves,  cap- 
tives taken  in  the  wars.  Yasco  Nunez  ordered 
one  fifth  of  the  gold  to  be  weighed  out  and  set 
apart  for  the  crown,  and  the  rest  to  be  shared 
among  his  followers. 

The  division  of  the  gold  took  place  in  the 
porch  of  the  dwelling  of  Comagre,  in  the  presence 
of  the  youthful  cacique  who  had  made  the  gift. 
As  the  Spaniards  were  weighing  it  out,  a  vio- 
lent quarrel  arose  among  them  as  to  the  size  and 
value  of  the  pieces  which  fell  to  their  respective 
shares.  The  high-minded  savage  was  disgusted 
at  this  sordid  brawl  amonor  heinous  whom  he  had 
regarded  with  such  ix^verence.  In  the  first  im- 
pulse of  his  disdain  he  struck  the  scales  with  his 
fist,  and  scattered  the  glittering  gold  about  the 
porch.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  should  you  quarrel  for 
such  a  trifle  ?  If  this  gold  is  indeed  so  precious 
in  your  eyes,  that  for  it  alone  you  abandon  your 
homes,  invade  the  peaceful  lands  of  others,  and 
expose  yourselves  to  such  sufferings  and  perils,  I 
will  tell  you  of  a  region  where  you  may  gratify 
your  wishes  to  the  utmost.  Behold  those  lofty 
aiountains,"  continued  he,  pointing  to  the  south  ; 
^  beyond  these  lies  a  mighty  sea,  which  may  be 
discerned  from  their  summit.  It  is  navigated  by 
jjeople  who  have  vessels  almost  as  large  as  yours, 
and  furnished,  like  them,  with  sails  and  oars. 


170       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


All  the  streams  which  flow  clown  the  southern 
side  of  those  mountains  into  that  sea  abound  in 
gold  ;  and  the  kings  who  reign  upon  its  borders 
eat  and  drink  out  of  golden  vessels.  Gold,  in 
fact,  is  as  plentiful  and  common  among  those  peo- 
ple of  the  south  as  iron  is  among  you  Spaniards." 

Vasco  Nunez  inquired  eagerly  as  to  the  means 
of  penetrating  to  this  sea,  and  to  the  opulent  re- 
gions on  its  shores.  "  The  task,"  replied  the 
prince,  "  is  difficult  and  dangerous.  You  must 
pass  through  the  territories  of  many  powerful  ca- 
ciques, who  will  oppose  you  with  hosts  of  war- 
riors. Some  parts  of  the  mountains  are  infested 
by  fierce  and  cruel  cannibals,  a  wandering,  law- 
less race :  but,  above  all,  you  will  have  to  en- 
counter the  great  cacique  Tubanama,  whose 
territories  are  at  the  distance  of  six  days'  jour- 
ney, and  more  rich  in  gold  than  any  other  prov- 
ince ;  this  cacique  will  be  sure  to  come  forth 
against  you  with  a  mighty  force.  To  accom- 
plish your  enterprise,  therefore,  will  require  at 
least  a  thousand  men  armed  like  those  who  fol- 
low you." 

The  youthful  cacique  gave  him  further  infor- 
mation on  the  subject,  collected  from  various  cap- 
tives taken  in  battle,  and  from  one  of  his  own 
nation,  who  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  captivity 
to  Tubanam^,  the  powerful  cacique  of  the  golden 
realm.  He  moreover  offered  to  prove  the  sincer- 
ity of  his  words  by  accompanying  Vasco  Nunez, 
in  any  expedition  to  those  parts,  at  the  head  of 
bis  father's  warriors. 

Such  was  the   first   intimation   received  by 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  171 


Vasco  Nunez  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  its  golden 
realms,  and  it  had  an  immediate  effect  upon  his 
whole  character  and  conduct.  This  hitherto 
wandering  and  desperate  man  had  now  an  enter* 
prise  opened  to  his  ambition,  which,  if  accom* 
plished,  would  elevate  him  to  fame  and  fortune, 
and  entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  great  captains 
and  discoverers  of  the  earth.  Henceforth  the 
discovery  of  the  sea  beyond  the  mountains  was 
the  great  object  of  his  thoughts,  and  his  wWe 
spirit  seemed  roused  and  ennobled  by  the  idea. 

He  hastened  his  return  to  Darien,  to  make  the 
necessary  preparations  for  this  splendid  enterprise. 
Before  departing  from  the  province  of  Comagre, 
he  baptized  that  cacique  by  the  name  of  Don 
Carlos,  and  performed  the  same  ceremony  upon 
his  sons  and  several  of  his  subjects  ;  —  thus 
singularly  did  avarice  and  religion  go  hand  in 
hand  in  the  conduct  of  the  Spanish  discoverers. 

Scarcely  had  Vasco  Nunez  returned  to  Darien, 
when  the  Regidor  Yaldivia  arrived  from  Hispa- 
niola,  but  with  no  more  provisions  than  could  be 
brought  in  his  small  caravel.  These  were  soon 
consumed,  and  the  general  scarcity  continued. 
It  was  heightened  by  a  violent  tempest  of  thun- 
der, lightning,  and  rain,  which  brought  such  tor- 
rents from  the  mountains  that  the  river  swelled 
and  overflowed  its  banks,  laying  waste  all  the  ad- 
jacent fields  which  had  been  cultivated.  In  this 
extremity,  Yasco  Nunez  dispatched  Yaldivia  a 
second  time  to  Hispaniola  for  provisions.  Ani- 
mated also  by  the  loftier  views  of  his  present  am- 
bition, he  wrote  to  Don  Diego  Columbus,  who 


172 


VOYAGES  AND  LISCOVERIES  OF 


governed  at  San  Domingo,  informing  him  of  the 
intelligence  he  had  received  of  a  great  sea  and 
opulent  realms  beyond  the  mountains,  and  en- 
treating him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  king 
that  one  thousand  men  migiit  be  furnished  him 
for  the  prosecutioii  of  so  grand  a  discovery.  He 
sent  him  also  the  amount  of  fifteen  thousand 
crowns  in  gold,  to  be  remitted  to  the  king,  as  the 
royal  fifths  of  what  had  already  been  collected 
under  his  jurisdiction.  Many  of  his  followers, 
like^vise,  forwarded  sums  of  gold  to  be  i-emitted 
to  their  creditors  in  Spain.  Jn  the  mean  time, 
Vasco  Nunez  prayed  the  admiral  to  yield  him 
prompt  succor  to  enable  him  to  keep  his  footing 
in  the  land,  representing  the  difficulty  he  had  in 
maintaining,  with  a  mere  handful  of  men,  so  vast 
a  country  in  a  state  of  subjection. 


CHAPTER  JV 

iSXPEDITION  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ  IN  QUEST  OF  THE  GOLDEN 
TEMPLE  OF  DOBAYBA. 

[1512.] 

While  Vasco  Nunez  awaited  the  result  of  tliia 
mission  of  Valdivia,  his  active  disposition  prompted 
foraging  excursions  into  the  surrounding  countiy 

Among  various  rumors  of  golden  realms  in  the 
.nterior  of  this  unknown  land,  was  one  concerning 
a  province  called  Dobayba,  situated  about  forty 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  178 


leagues  distant,  on  the  banks  of  a  great  river 
wliich  emptied  itself,  by  several  mouths,  into  a 
corner  of  tlie  Gulf  of  Uraba. 

This  province  derived  its  name,  according  to 
Indian  tradition,  from  a  mighty  female  of  the  olden 
time,  the  motlier  of  the  god  who  created  the  suu 
and  moon  and  all  good  things.  She  had  power 
over  the  elements,  sending  thunder  and  lightning 
to  lay  waste  the  lands  of  those  who  displeased  her, 
but  showering  down  fertility  and  abundance  upon 
the  possessions  of  her  faithful  worshipers.  Others 
described  her  as  having  been  an  Indian  princess, 
who  once  reigned  among  the  mountains  of  Dobay- 
ba,  and  was  renowned  throughout  the  land  for  her 
supernatural  power  and  wisdom.  After  her  death, 
divine  honors  were  paid  her,  and  a  great  temple 
was  erected  for  her  worship.  Hither  the  natives 
repaired  from  far  and  near,  on  a  kind  of  pilgrim- 
age, bearing  offerings  of  their  most  valuable  effects. 
The  caciques  who  ruled  over  distant  territories 
also  sent  golden  tributes,  at  certain  times  of  the 
year,  to  be  deposited  in  this  temple,  and  slaves  to 
be  sacrificed  at  this  shrine.  At  one  time,  it  was 
added,  this  worship  fell  into  disuse,  the  pilgrimages 
were  discontinued,  and  the  caciques  neglected  to 
send  their  tributes  ;  whereupon  the  deity,  as  a 
punishment,  inflicted  a  drought  upon  the  country. 
The  springs  and  fountains  failed,  the  rivers  were 
dried  up ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountains  were 
obliged  to  descend  into  the  plains,  where  they 
digged  pits  and  wells,  but  these  likewise  failing,  a 
great  part  of  the  nations  perished  with  thirst. 
The  remainder  hastened  to  propitiate  the  deity  by 


174       VOYAGES  AND  DISCCVERJES  OF 


tributes  and  sacrifices,  and  thus  succeeded  in  aver^ 
ing  her  displeasure.  In  consequence  of  offerings 
of  the  kind,  made  for  generations  from  all  parta 
of  the  country,  the  temple  was  said  to  be  filled 
with  treasure,  and  its  walls  to  be  covered  with 
golden  gifts.i  In  addition  to  the  tale  of  this  temple, 
t]ie  Indians  gave  marvelous  accounts  of  the  gen- 
eral wealth  of  this  province,  declaring  that  it 
abounded  with  mines  of  gold,  the  veins  of  which 
reached  from  the  dwelling  of  the  cacique  to  the 
borders  of  his  dominions. 

To  penetrate  to  this  territory,  and  above  all,  to 
secure  the  treasures  of  the  golden  temple,  was  an 
enterprise  suited  to  the  adventurous  spuit  of  the 
Spaniards.  Vasco  Nunez  chose  one  hundred  and 
seventy  of  his  hardiest  men  for  the  purpose.  Em- 
barking them  in  two  brigantines  and  a  number  of 
canoes,  he  set  sail  from  Darien,  and,  after  standing 
about  nine  leagues  to  the  east,  came  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Grande  de  San  Juan,  or  the  Great 
River  of  St.  John,  also  called  the  Atrato,  which 
is  since  ascertained  to  be  one  of  the  branches  of 
the  river  Darien.  Here  he  detached  Rodrigo  Enri- 
quez  de  Colmenares  with  one  third  of  his  forces, 
to  explore  the  stream,  while  he  himself  proceeded 
with  the  residue  to  another  branch  of  the  river, 
which  he  was  told  flowed  from  the  province  of 
Dobayba,  and  which  he  ascended,  flushed  with 
sanguine  expectations.^ 

1  Peter  Mart}^,  decad.  iii.  cap.  6.    Idem,  decad.  vii.  cap.  10. 
In  recording  this  expedition,  tie  author  has  followed  the 
old  Spanish  narratives,  written  when  the  face  of  the  country 
was  but  little  known,  and  he  was  much  perplexed  to  reconcila 


TH^:  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  175 

His  old  enemy  Zemaco,  the  cacique  of  Darien, 
however,  had  discovered  the  object  of  his  expedi- 
tion, and  had  taken  measures  to  disappoint  it ;  re- 
pairing to  the  province  of  Dobayba,  he  had  pre- 
vailed upon  its  cacique  to  retire  at  the  approach 
of  the  Spaniards,  leaving  his  country  deserted. 

Vasco  Nuiiez  found  a  village  situated  in  a 
marshy  neighborhood,  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  mistook  it  for  the  residence  of  the  cacique : 
it  was  silent  and  abandoned.  There  was  not  an 
Indian  to  be  met  with,  from  whom  he  could  obtain 
any  information  about  the  country,  or  who  could 
guide  him  to  the  golden  temple.  He  was  dis- 
appointed, also,  in  his  hopes  of  obtaining  a  supply 
of  provisions,  but  he  found  weapons  of  various 
kinds  hanging  in  the  deserted  houses,  and  gathered 
jewels  and  pieces  of  gold  to  the  value  of  seven 
thousand  castellanos.  Discouraged  by  the  savage 
look  of  the  surrounding  wilderness,  which  was  per- 
plexed by  deep  morasses,  and  having  no  guides  to 
aid  him  in  exploring  it,  he  put  all  the  booty  he 
had  collected  into  two  large  canoes,  and  made  his 

the  accounts  given  of  numerous  streams  with  the  rivers  laic' 
down  on  modern  maps.  By  a  clear  and  judicious  explanation, 
given  in  the  recent  work  of  Don  Manuel  Josef  Quintana,  it 
appears  that  the  different  streams  explored  b,y  Vasco  Nunez 
tnd  Colmenares  were  all  branches  of  one  grand  river,  which, 
descending  from  the  mountains  of  the  interior,  winds  about  in 
crystal  streams  among  the  plains  and  morasses  bordering  the 
bottom  of  the  great  Gulf  of  Darien,  and  discharges  itself  by 
various  mouths  into  the  gulf.  In  fact,  the  stream  which  ran 
by  the  infant  city  of  Santa  Maria  de  la  Antigua  was  tut  one 
of  its  branches,  a  fact  entirely  unknown  to  Vasco  Nunez  and 
his  companions. 


176       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

way  back  to  the  Gulf  of  Uraba.  Here  he  waa 
assailed  by  a  violent  tempest,  which  neady  wrecked 
his  two  brigantmes,  and  obliged  him  to  throw  a 
great  part  of  their  cargoes  overboard.  The  two 
canoes  containing  the  booty  were  swallowed  up 
by  the  raging  sea,  and  all  their  crews  perished. 

Thus  baffled  and  tempest-tost,  Yasco  Nunez  at 
length  succeeded  in  getting  into  what  is  termed 
the  Grand  River,  which  he  ascended,  and  rejoined 
Colmenares  and  his  detachment.  They  now  ex- 
tended their  excursions  up  a  stream  which  emptied 
itself  into  the  Grand  River,  and  which,  from  the 
dark  hue  of  its  waters,  they  called  Rio  Negro,  or 
the  Black  River.  They  also  explored  certain 
other  tributary  streams,  branching  from  it,  though 
not  without  occasional  skirmishes  with  the  natives. 

Ascending  one  of  these  minor  rivers,  with  a 
part  of  his  men,  Vasco  Nunez  came  to  the  terri- 
tories of  a  cacique  named  Abibeyba,  who  reigned 
over  a  region  of  marshes  and  shallow  lakes.  The 
habitations  of  the  natives  were  built  amidst  the 
branches  of  immense  and  lofty  trees.  They  were 
large  enough  to  contain  whole  family  connections, 
and  were  constructed  partly  of  wood,  partly  of  a 
kind  of  wicker-work,  combining  strength  and  plia- 
bility, and  yielding  uninjured  to  the  motion  of  the 
branches  when  agitated  by  the  wind.  The  in- 
habitants ascended  to  them  with  great  agility,  by 
light  ladders,  formed  of  great  reeds  split  through 
the  middle,  for  the  reeds  on  this  coast  grow  to  the 
thickness  of  a  man's  body.  These  ladders  they 
drew  up  after  them  at  night,  or  in  case  of  attack. 
These  liabitations  were  well  stocked  with  provis- 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  111 

ions  ;  but  the  fermented  beverages,  of  which  these 
people  had  always  a  supply,  were  buried  hi  vessels 
in  the  earth,  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  lest  they 
should  be  rendered  turbid  by  the  rocking  of  the 
houses.  Close  by,  also,  were  the  canoes  with 
which  they  navigated  the  rivers  and  ponds  of  their 
marshy  country,  and  followed  their  main  occupa- 
tion of  fishing. 

On  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards,  the  Indians 
took  refuge  in  their  tree-built  castles,  and  drew 
up  the  ladders.  The  former  called  upon  them 
to  descend,  and  to  fear  nothing.  Upon  this  the 
cai^ique  replied,  entreating  that  he  might  not  be 
molested,  seeing  he  had  done  them  no  injury. 
They  threatened,  unless  he  came  down,  to  fell 
the  trees,  or  to  set  fire  to  them,  and  burn  him 
and  his  wives  and  children.  The  cacique  was 
disposed  to  consent,  but  was  prevented  by  the 
entreaties  of  his  people.  Upon  this  the  Span- 
iards prepared  to  hew  down  the  trees,  but  were 
assailed  by  showers  of  stones.  They  covered 
themselves,  however,  with  their  bucklers,  assailed 
the  trees  vigorously  with  their  hatchets,  and  soou 
compelled  the  inhabitants  to  capitulate.  The 
cacique  descended  with  his  wife  and  two  of  hi  a 
children.  The  firat  demand  of  the  Spaniards 
was  for  gold.  He  assured  them  he  had  none  ; 
for,  having  no  need  of  it,  he  had  never  made  it 
an  object  of  his  search.  Being  importuned,  how- 
ever, he  said  that  if  he  were  permitted  to  repair 
to  certain  mountains  at  a  distance,  he  would  in  a 
few  days  return  and  bring  them  what  they  de- 
fiii'ed.    They  permitted  liim  to  depart,  retaining 

VOL.  III.  12 


178       VOVAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


his  wife  and  children  as  hostages,  but  they  sav? 
no  more  of  the  cacique.  After  remaming  here  a 
few  days,  and  regaling  on  the  provisions  which 
they  found  in  abundance,  they  continued  their 
foraging  expeditions,  often  opposed  by  the  bold 
and  warlike  natives,  and  suffering  occasional  los», 
but  inflicting  great  havoc  on  their  opposers. 

Having  thus  overrun  a  considerable  extent  of 
country,  and  no  grand  object  presenting  to  lure 
him  on  to  further  enterprise,  Yasco  Nunez  at 
length  returned  to  Darien  with  the  spoils  and 
captives  he  had  taken,  leaving  Bartolome  Hur- 
tado,  with  thirty  men,  in  an  Indian  village  on  the 
Rio  Negro,  or  Black  River,  to  hold  the  country 
in  subjection.  Thus  terminated  the  first  expe- 
dition in  quest  of  the  golden  temple  of  Dobaybat, 
which,  for  some  time,  continued  to  be  a  favorite 
object  of  enterprise  among  the  adventurers  of 
Darien. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DISASTER  ON  THE  BLACK  RIVER.  —  INDIAN  PLOT  AGAINSt 
DARIEN. 

Bartolome  Hurtado,  being  left  to  his  own 
discretion  on  the  banks  of  the  Black  River,  oc- 
cupied himself  occasionally  in  hunting  the  scat- 
tered natives  who  straggled  about  the  surround- 
ing forests.  Having  in  this  way  picked  up  twen- 
ty-four captives,  he  put  them  on  board  of  a  larga 
canoe,  like  so  much  live  stock,  to  be  transported 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  179 


to  Darieii  and  sold  as  slaves.  Twenty  his 
followers,  who  were  infirm  either  from  wounds  or 
the  diseases  of  the  climate,  embarked  also  in  the 
canoe,  so  that  only  ten  men  remained  with  Hur- 
tado. 

The  great  canoe,  thus  heavily  freighted,  de- 
scended the  Black  R^'^er  slowly,  between  banks 
overhung  with  foreiyc^.  Zemaco,  the  indefatiga- 
ble cacique  of  Darien,  was  on  the  watch,  and 
waylaid  the  ark  with  four  canoes  filled  with  war- 
riors, armed  with  war-clubs  and  lances  hardened 
in  the  fire.  The  Spaniards,  being  sick,  coul(i 
make  but  feeble  resistance  ;  soma  were  massacred, 
others  leaped  into  the  river  and  were  drowned 
Two  only  escaped,  by  clinging  to  two  trunks  of 
trees  that  were  floating  down  the  river,  and 
covering  themselves  with  the  branches.  Reach- 
ing the  shore  in  safety,  they  returned  to  Bar- 
tolome  Hurtado  with  the  tragical  tidings  of  the 
death  of  his  followers.  Hurtado  was  so  disheart- 
ened by  the  news,  and  so  dismayed  at  his  own 
helpless  situation,  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  coun- 
try, that  he  resolved  to  abandon  the  fatal  shores 
of  the  Black  River,  and  return  to  Darien.  He 
was  quickened  in  this  resolution  by  receiving  in- 
timation of  a  conspiracy  forming  among  the  na- 
tives. The  implacable  Zemaco  had  drawn  four 
other  caciques  into  a  secret  plan  to  assemble  their 
vassals  and  make  a  sudden  attack  upon  Daiien  : 
Flurtado  hastened  with  the  remnant  of  his  fol- 
'owers  to  carry  tidings  to  the  settlement  of  this 
conspiracy.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  were 
alarmed  at  his  intelligence ;  others  treated  it  ris  a 


180       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

false  ruDior  of  the  Indians,  and  no  preparations 
were  made  against  what  might  be  a  mere  imag- 
inary danger. 

Fortunately  for  the  Spaniards,  among  the  fe- 
male captives  owned  by  Vasco  Nunez  was  an 
Indian  damsel,  named  Fulvia ;  to  whom,  in  con- 
sequence of  her  beauty,  he  had  shown  great 
favor,  and  who  had  become  strongly  attached  to 
him.  She  had  a  brother  among  the  warriors  of 
Zemaco,  who  often  visited  her  in  secret.  In  one 
of  his  visits  he  informed  her  that  on  a  certain 
night  the  settlement  would  be  attacked,  and  every 
Spaniard  destroyed.  He- charged  her,  therefore, 
to  hide  herself  that  night  in  a  certain  place,  until 
he  should  come  to  her  aid,  lest  she  should  be 
slain  in  the  confusion  of  the  massacre. 

When  her  brother  was  gone,  a  violent  struggle 
took  place  in  the  bosom  of  the  Indian  girl,  be- 
tween her  feeling  for  her  family  and  her  people, 
and  her  affection  for  Vasco  Nunez.  The  latter 
at  length  prevailed,  and  she  revealed  all  that  had 
been  told  to  hf^r.  The  Spaniard  prevailed  on 
her  to  send  for  her  brother,  under  pretense  of 
aiding  her  to  escape.  Having  him  in  his  power, 
he  extorted  from  him  all  that  he  knew  of  the 
designs  of  the  enemy.  His  confession  showed 
what  imminent  danger  had  been  lurking  round 
Vasco  Nunez  in  his  most  unsuspecting  moments. 
The  prisoner  informed  him  that  he  had  been  one 
of  forty  Indians  sent  some  time  before  by  the 
cacique  Zemaco  to  Vasco  Nunez,  in  seemmg 
friendship,  to  be  employed  by  him  in  cultivating 
the  fields  adjacent  to  the  settlement.    They  had 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  181 

secret  orders,  however,  to  take  an  opportunity 
when  the  Spaniard  should  come  forth  to  inspect 
their  work,  to  set  upon  him  in  an  unguarded 
moment,  and  destroy  him.  Fortunately,  Vasce 
Nunez  always  visited  the  fields  mounted  on  his 
war-horse,  and  armed  with  lance  and  target,  and 
the  Indians  were  so  awed  by  his  martial  appear- 
ance, and  by  the  terrible  animal  he  bestrode, 
that  they  dared  not  attack  him. 

Foiled  in  this  and  other  attempts  of  the  kind, 
Zemaco  resorted  to  the  conspiracy  with  which 
the  settlement  was  now  menaced.  Five  caciques 
had  joined  in  the  confederacy  :  they  had  prepared 
a  hundred  canoes;  amassed  provisions  for  an 
army ;  and  concerted  to  assemble  five  thousand 
picked  warriors  at  a  certain  time  and  place ; 
with  these  they  were  to  make  an  attack  on  the 
settlement  by  land  and  water,  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  and  to  slaughter  every  Spaniard. 

Having  learnt  where  the  confederate  cliiefs 
were  to  be  found,  and  where  they  had  deposited 
their  provisions,  Vasco  Nunez  chose  seventy  of 
his  best  men,  well  armed,  and  made  a  circuit  by 
land,  while  Colmenares,  with  sixty  men,  sallied 
forth  secretly  in  four  canoes,  guided  by  the  In- 
dian prisoner.  In  this  way  they  surprised  the 
general  of  the  Indian  army  and  several  of  the 
principal  confederates,  and  got  possession  of  all 
their  provisions,  though  they  failed  to  capture  the 
formidable  Zemaco.  The  Indian  general  was 
shot  to  death  with  arrows,  and  the  leaders  of  the 
conspiracy  were  hanged  in  presence  of  their  cap- 
tive followers.    The  defeat  of  this  deep-laid  yiajx, 


182       VOTAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


and  the  punishment  of  its  devisers,  spread  teirof 
throughout  the  neighboring  provinces,  and  pre 
vented  any  further  hostiUties.  Yasco  Nunez, 
however,  caused 'a  strong  fortress  of  wood  to  be 
immediately  erected,  to  guard  against  any  future 
assaults  of  the  savages. 


CHAPTER  VL 

FURTHER  FACTIONS  IN   THE  COLONY.  —  ARROGANCE  09 
ALONZO  PEREZ  AND  THE  BACHELOR  CORRAL. 

A  CONSIDERABLE  time  had  now  elapsed  since 
the  departure  of  Valdivia  for  Hispaniola,  yet  no 
tidings  had  been  received  from  him.  Many 
began  to  fear  that  some  disaster  had  befallen 
him  ;  while  others  insinuated  that  it  was  possible 
both  he  and  Zamudio  might  have  neglected  the 
objects  of  their  mission,  and,  having  appropriated 
to  their  own  use  the  gold  with  which  they  had 
been  intrusted,  abandoned  the  colony  to  its  fate. 

Vasco  Nunez  liimself  was  harassed  by  these 
surmises  ;  and  by  tlie  dread  lest  the  Bachelor 
Enciso  should  succeed  in  prejudicing  the  mind  of 
his  sovereign  against  him.  Impatient  of  this  state 
of  anxious  suspense,  he  determined  to  repair  to 
Spain,  to  communicate  in  person  all  that  he  had 
heard  concerning  the  Southern  Sea,  and  to  ask 
for  the  troops  necessary  for  its  discovery. 

Every  one,  however,  both  friend  and  foe,  ex- 
claimed against  such  a  measure,  representing  his 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  183 


presence  as  indispensable  to  the  safety  of  the 
colony,  from  his  great  talents  as  a  commander, 
and  the  fear  entertained  of  him  by  the  Indians. 

After  much  debate  and  contention,  it  was  at 
length  agreed  that  Juan  de  Cayzedo  and  Rodrigo 
Enriquez  de  Colmenares  should  go  in  his  place 
instructed  to  make  all  necessary  representations 
to  the  king.  Letters  were  written  also,  contain- 
ino^  extrava^rant  accounts  of  the  riches  of  the 
country,  partly  dictated  by  the  sanguine  hopes  of 
the  writers,  and  partly  by  the  fables  of  the  na- 
tives. Tiie  rumored  wealth  of  the  province  of 
Dobayba,  and  the  treasures  of  its  golden  temple, 
were  not  forgotten  ;  and  an  Indian  was  taken  to 
Spain  by  the  commissioners,  a  native  of  the 
province  of  Zenu,  where  gold  was  said  to  be 
gathered  in  nets  stretched  across  the  mountain 
streams.  To  give  more  weight  to  all  these 
stories,  every  one  contributed  some  portion  of 
gold  from  his  private  hoard,  to  be  presented  to 
the  king  in  addition  to  the  amount  arising  from 
his  fifths. 

But  little  time  had  elapsed  after  the  departure 
of  the  commissioners,  when  new  dissensions 
broke  out  in  the  colony.  It  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  a  fortuitous  assemblage  of  adven- 
turers could  remain  long  tranquil  during  a  time 
of  suffering  under  rulers  of  questionable  author- 
ity. Vasco  Nunez,  it  is  true,  had  risen  by  his 
courage  and  abilities  ;  but  he  had  risen  from 
among  their  ranks  ;  he  was  in  a  manner  of  their 
)wn  creation  ;  and  they  had  not  become  suffi< 
ciently  accustomed  to  him  as  a  governor^  to  for 


184 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


get  that  he  was  recently  but  a  mere  soldier  of 
fortune,  and  an  absconduig  debtor. 

Their  factious  discontent,  however,  was  di- 
rected at  first  against  a  favorite  of  Vasco  Nunez, 
rather  than  against  iiimself.  He  had  invested 
Bartolome  Hurtado,  the  commander  of  the  Black 
Rivei",  with  considerable  autliority  in  the  colony 
and  the  latter  gave  great  offense  by  his  oppres- 
sive conduct.  Hurtado  had  particularly  ag- 
grieved by  his  arrogance  one  Alonzo  Perez  de  la 
Rua,  a  touchy  cavalier,  jealous  of  his  honor, 
and  peculiarly  gifted  with  the  sensitive  punctilio 
of  a  Spaniard.  Firing  at  some  indignity, 
whether  real  or  fancied,  Alonzo  Perez  threw 
himself  into  the  ranks  of  the  disaffected,  and 
was  immediately  chosen  as  their  leader.  Thus 
backed  by  faction,  he  clamored  loudly  for  the 
punishment  of  Hurtado  ;  and,  finding  his  de- 
mands unattended  to,  threw  out  threats  of  depos- 
ing Vasco  Nunez.  The  latter,  with  his  usual 
spirit  and  promptness,  seized  upon  the  testy 
Alonzo  Perez,  and  threw  him  into  prison,  to 
digest  his  indignities  and  cool  his  passion  at 
leisure. 

The  conspiratoi's  flew  to  arms  to  liberate  their 
leader.  The  friends  of  Vasco  Nunez  were 
equally  on  the  alert.  The  two  parties  drew  out 
in  battle  array  in  the  public  square,  and  a  san- 
guinary conflict  was  on  the  point  of  taking  place. 
Fortunately,  there  were  some  cool  heads  left  in 
the  colony.  These  interfered  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment, representing  to  the  angry  adversaries  that, 
if  they  fought  among  themselves,  and  diminished 


THE  COMPANIONS  OP'  COLUMbUS.  185 


their  already  scanty  numbers,  even  the  con- 
querors must  eventually  fall  a  prey  to  the  In^ 
dians. 

Their  remonstrances  had  elFect.  A  parley 
ensued,  and,  after  much  noisy  debate,  a  kind  of 
compromise  was  made.  Alonzo  Perez  was  lib- 
erated, and  the  mutineers  dispersed  quietly  to 
their  homes.  The  next  day,  however,  they 
were  again  in  arms,  and  seized  upon  Bartolome 
Hurtado  ;  but  after  a  little  while  were  prevailed 
upon  to  set  him  free.  Their  factious  views 
seemed  turned  to  a  higher  object.  They  broke 
forth  into  loud  murmurs  against  Vasco  Nunez, 
complaining  that  he  had  not  made  a  fair  division 
of  the  gold  and  slaves  taken  in  the  late  expedi- 
tions, and  threatening  to  arrest  him  and  bring 
him  to  account.  Above  all,  they  clamored  for 
an  immediate  distribution  of  ten  thousand  cas- 
tellanos  in  gold,  yet  unshared. 

Vasco  Nunez  understood  too  well  the  riotous 
nature  of  the  people  under  him,  and  his  own 
precarious  hold  on  their  obedience,  to  attempt  to 
cope  with  them  in  this  moment  of  turbulence 
He  shrewdly  determined,  therefore,  to  withdraw 
from  the  sight  of  the  multitude,  and  to  leave 
them  to  divide  the  spoil  among  themselves,  trust- 
ing to  their  own  strife  for  his  security.  That 
very  night  he  sallied  forth  into  the  country, 
under  pretense  of  going  on  a  hunting  expedition. 

The  next  morning  the  mutineers  found  them- 
selves in  possession  of  the  field.  Alonzo  Perez, 
\he  pragmatical  ringleader,  immediately  assumed 
the  command^  seconded  by  the  Bachelor  Corral, 


186       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


The'r  first  measure  was  to  seize  upon  the  ten 
thousand  castellanos,  and  to  divide  them  among 
the  multitude,  by  way  of  securing  their  own 
popularity.  The  event  proved  the  sagacity  and 
forethought  of  Vasco  Nunez.  Scarcely  had 
these  hot-headed  intermeddlers  entered  upon  the 
partition  of  the  gold,  than  a  furious  strife  arose. 
Every  one  was  dissatisfied  with  his  share,  con- 
Bidering  his  merits  entitled  to  peculiar  recompense. 
Every  attempt  to  appease  the  rabble  only  aug 
mented  their  violence,  and  in  their  rage  they 
swore  that  Vasco  Nunez  had  always  shown  more 
judgment  and  discrimination  in  his  distributions 
to  men  of  merit. 

The  adherents  of  the  latter  now  ventured  to 
lift  up  their  voices  ;  "  Vasco  Nuiiez,"  said  they, 
"  won  the  gold  by  his  enterprise  and  valor,  and 
would  have  shared  it  with  the  brave  and  the 
deserving  ;  but  these  men  have  seized  upon  it 
by  factious  means,  and  would  squander  it  upon 
their  minions."  The  multitude,  who,  in  fact, 
admired  the  soldier  -  like  qualities  of  Vasco 
Nunez,  displayed  one  of  the  customary  reverses 
of  popular  feeling.  The  touchy  Alonzo  Perez, 
his  coadjutor  the  Bachelor  Corral,  and  several 
other  of  the  ringleaders,  were  seized,  put  into 
irons,  and  confined  in  the  fortress ;  and  Vasco 
Nunez  was  recalled  with  loud  acclamations  to 
the  settlement. 

How  long  this  psoudo-commander  might  have 
been  able  to  manage  the  unsteady  populace,  it  is 
impossible  to'  say  ;  but  just  at  this  juncture  two 
ships  arrived  from   Hispaniola,  freighted  with 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  18/ 


pupplies,  and  bringing  a  reinforcement  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men.  They  brought  also  a 
commission  to  Vasco  Nunez,  signed  by  Miguel 
de  Pasamonte,  the  royal  treasurer  of  Hispaniola, 
(to  whom  he  had  sent  a  private  present  of  gold), 
constituting  him  captain-general  of  the  colony. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  Pasamonte  possessed  the 
power  to  confer  such  a  commission,  though  it  is 
affirmed  that  the  king  had  clothed  him  with  it,  as 
a  kind  of  check  upon  the  authority  of  the  ad- 
miral Don  Diego  Columbus,  then  governor  of 
Hispaniola,  of  whose  extensive  sway  in  the  New 
World  the  monarch  was  secretly  jealous.  At 
any  rate,  the  treasurer  appears  to  have  acted  in 
full  confidence  of  the  ultimate  approbation  of  his 
sovereign. 

Vasco  Nunez  was  rejoiced  at  receiving  a  com- 
mission which  clothed  him  with  at  least  the  sem- 
blance of  royal  sanction.  Feeling  more  assured 
in  his  situation,  and  being  naturally  of  a  gener- 
ous and  forgiving  temper,  Le  was  easily  prevailed 
upon,  in  this  moment  of  exultation,  to  release 
and  pardon  Alonzo  Perez,  the  Bachelor  Corral, 
and  the  other  ringleaders  of  the  late  commo* 
tions  ;  and  for  a  time  the  feuds  and  factions  of 
this  petty  community  were  lulled  to  repose. 


188 


}  OYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  GF 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VASCO  NUNEZ  DETERMINES  TO  SEEK  THE  SEA  BBYONJ) 

THE  MOUNTAINS. 

[1513.] 

The  temporary  triumph  of  Vasco  Nunez  was 
Boon  overcast  by  tidings  from  Spain.  His  late 
colleague,  the  alcalde  Zamudio,  wrote  him  word, 
that  the  Bachelor  Enciso  had  carried  his  com- 
plaints to  the  foot  of  the  throne,  and  succeeded 
in  rousing  the  indignation  of  the  king,  and  had 
obtained  a  sentence  in  his  favor,  condemning 
Vasco  Nunez  in  costs  and  damages.  Zamudio 
informed  him  in  addition,  that  he  would  be  im- 
mediately summoned  to  repair  to  Spain,  and  an- 
swer in  person  the  criminal  charges  advanced 
against  him,  on  account  of  the  harsh  treatment 
and  probable  death  of  the  unfortunate  Nicuesa. 

Vasco  Niiiiez  was  at  first  stunned  by  this 
inrelligence,  which  seemed  at  one  blow  to  annihi- 
late all  his  hopes  and  fortunes.  He  was  a  man, 
however,  of  prompt  decision  and  intrepid  spirit. 
The  information  received  from  Spain  was  pri- 
vate and  informal  ;  no  order  had  yet  arrived 
from  the  king  ;  he  was  still  master  of  his  actions, 
and  had  control  over  the  colony.  One  brilliant 
achievement  might  atone  for  all  the  past,  and  fix 
him  in  the  favor  of  the  monarch.  Such  an 
achievement  was  within  his  reach  —  the  discov- 
ery of  the  southern  sea.  It  is  true,  a  thousand 
Roldiers  had  been  required  for  the  expedition, 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  189 


but  were  he  to  wait  for  their  arrival  from  Spain, 
liis  day  of  grace  would  be  past.  It  was  a  des- 
perate thing  to  undertake  the  task  with  tlie  hand- 
ful of  men  at  his  command,  but  the  circum^ 
stances  of  the  case  were  desperate.  Fame,  for- 
tune, life  itself  depended  upon  the  successful  and 
the  prompt  execution  of  the  enterprise.  To 
linger  w^as  to  be  lost. 

Vasco  Nunez  looked  round  upon  the  crew  of 
daring  and  reckless  adventurers  that  formed  the 
colony,  and  chose  one  hundred  and  ninety  of  the 
most  resolute,  vigorous,  and  devoted  to  his  per- 
son. These  he  armed  with  swords,  targets,  cross- 
bows, and  arquebuses.  He  did  not  conceal  from 
them  the  danger  of  the  enterprise  into  which  he 
was  about  to  lead  them  ;  but  the  spirit  of  these 
Spanish  adventurers  w^as  always  roused  by  the 
idea  of  perilous  and  extravagant  exploit.  To  aid 
his  slender  forces,  he  took  with  him  a  number 
of  bloodhounds,  which  had  been  found  to  be  ter- 
rific allies  in  Indian  warfare. 

The  Spanish  writers  made  particular  mention 
of  one  of  those  animals,  named  Leoncico,  which 
was  a  constant  companion,  and,  as  it  were,  body- 
guard of  Vasco  Nunez,  and  describe  him  as  mi- 
nutely as  they  w^ould  a  favorite  warrior.  He 
was  of  a  middle  size,  but  immensely  strong  :  of 
a  dull  yellow  or  reddish  color,  w^ith  a  black  muz 
2le,  and  his  body  was  scarred  all  over  with 
wounds  received  in  innumerable  battles  with  the 
Indians.  Yasco  Nunez  always  took  him  on  his 
expeditions,  and  sometimes  lent  him  to  others^ 
receiving  for  his  services  the  same  share  of 


.190       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


booty  allotted  to  an  armed  man.  In  this  way  he 
gained  by  him  in  the  course  of  his  campaigns 
upwards  of  a  thousand  crowns.  The  Indians,  it 
is  said,  had  conceived  such  terror  of  this  animal, 
that  the  very  sight  of  him  was  sufficient  to  put  a 
host  of  tKem  to  flight.^ 

In  addition  to  these  forces,  Vasco  NuSez  took 
with  him  a  number  of  the  Indians  of  Darien, 
whom  he  had  won  to  him  by  kindness,  and 
whose  services  were  important,  from  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  wilderness,  and  of  the  habits  and 
resources  of  savage  life.  Such  was  the  motley 
armament  that  set  forth  from  the  little  colony 
of  Darien,  under  the  guidance  of  a  daring,  if 
not  desperate  commander,  in  quest  of  the  great 
Pacific  Ocean. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

EXPEDITION  IN  QUEST  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  SEA. 

It  was  on  the  first  of  September  that  Vasco 
Nunez  embarked  with  his  followers  in  a  brigan- 
tine,  and  nine  large  canoes  or  pirogues,  followed 
by  the  cheers  and  good  wishes  of  those  who  re- 
mained at  the  settlement.  Standing  to  the  north- 
westward, he  arrived  without  accident  at  Coyba, 
the  dominion  of  the  cacique  Careta,  whose  daugh- 
ter he  had  received  as  a  pledge  of  amity.  That 
Indian  beauty  had  acquired  a  great  influence  over 
Vasco  Nuiiez,  and  appears  to  have  ce^nented  hia 
1  Oviedo,  Hist.  Ind.,  p.  2,  cap.  3,  MS 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  191 


friendship  with  her  father  and  her  people.  Ho 
was  received  by  the  cacique  with  open  arms,  anfj 
furnished  with  guides  and  warriors  to  aid  him  in 
his  enterprise. 

Vasco  Nuiiez  left  about  half  of  his  men  ai 
Coyba,  to  guard  the  brigantine  and  canoes,  whilt 
he  should  penetrate  the  wilderness  with  the  res- 
idue. The  importance  of  his  present  expedition, 
not  merely  as  affecting  his  own  fortunes,  but,  as 
it  were,  unfolding  a  mighty  secret  of  nature, 
seems  to  have  impressed  itself  upon  his  spirit, 
and  to  have  given  correspondent  solemnity  to  his 
conduct.  Before  setting  out  upon  his  march,  he 
caused  mass  to  be  performed,  and  offered  up 
prayers  to  God  for  the  success  of  his  perilous 
undertaking. 

It  was  on  the  sixth  of  September,  that  he 
struck  off  for  the  mountains.  The  march  was 
difficult  and  toilsome.  The  Spaniards,  encum- 
bered with  the  weight  of  their  armor  and  weap- 
ons, and  oppressed  by  the  heat  of  a  tropical 
climate,  were  obliged  to  climb  rocky  precipices, 
and  to  struggle  through  close  and  tangled  for- 
ests. Their  Indian  allies  aided  them  by  carry- 
ing their  ammunition  and  provisions,  and  by 
guiding  them  to  the  most  practicable  paths. 

On  the  eighth  of  September  they  arrived  at 
the  village  of  Ponca,  the  ancient  enemy  of  Careta. 
riie  village  was  lifeless  and  abandoned ;  the 
cacique  and  his  people  had  fled  to  the  fastnesses 
of  the  mountains.  The  Spaniards  remained 
here  several  days,  to  recruit  the  health  of  some 
of  their  number  who  had  fallen  ill.    It  was  nee* 


$2       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


»ssary  also  to  procure  guides  acquainted  with  thv 
aiountaiu  wilderness  they  were  approaching 
The  retreat  of  Ponca  was  at  length  discovered^ 
and  he  was  prevailed  upon,  though  reluctantly,  to 
come  to  Vasco  Nunez.  The  latter  had  a  pe- 
culiar facility  in  winning  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  the  natives.  The  cacique  was  soon 
so  captivated  by  his  kindness,  that  he  revealed 
to  him  in  secret  all  he  knew  of  the  natural 
riches  of  the  country.  He  assured  him  of  the 
truth  of  what  had  been  told  him  of  a  gi^eat  pechry 
or  sea  beyond  the  mountains,  and  gave  him  sev- 
eral ornaments  ingeniously  wrought  of  fine  gold, 
w^hich  had  been  brought  from  the  countries  upon 
its  borders.  He  told  him,  moreover,  that  when 
he  had  attained  the  summit  of  a  lofty  ridge,  to 
which  he  pointed,  and  which  seemed  to  rise  up 
to  the  skies,  he  would  behold  that  sea  spread 
out  far  below  him. 

Animated  by  these  accounts,  Vasco  Nunez 
procured  fresh  guides  from  the  cacique,  and  pre- 
pared to  ascend  the  mountains.  Numbers  of 
his  men  havingr  fallen  ill  from  fatio^ue  and  the 
heat  of  the  climate,  he  ordered  them  to  return 
slowly  to  Coyba,  taking  with  him  none  but  such 
as  were  in  robust  and  vigorous  health. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  he  again  set  for- 
ward through  a  broken,  rocky  country,  covered 
with  a  matted  forest,  and  intersected  by  deep  and 
turbulent  streams,  many  of  which  it  was  neces- 
sary to  cross  upon  rafts. 

So  toilsome  was  the  journey,  that  in  four 
ays  they  did  not  advance  above  ten  league?. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  193 


and  ill  tlie  mean  time  tliey  suffered  excessively 
from  hunger.  At  the  end  of  this  time  they  ar- 
rived at  the  province  of  a  warlike  cacique,  niuned 
Quaraqua,  who  was  at  war  with  Ponca. 

Heanng  that  a  band  of  strangers  were  enter- 
ing his  territories,  guided  by  the  subjects  of  his 
inveterate  foe,  the  cacique  took  the  field  with  a 
large  number  of  warriors,  some  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows,  others  with  long  speai-s,  or 
with  double-handed  maces  of  palm-wood,  almost 
as  heavy  and  hard  as  iron.  Seeing  the  incon- 
siderable number  of  the  Spaniards,  they  set 
upon  them  with  furious  yells,  thinking  to  over- 
come them  in  an  instant.  The  first  discharge 
of  fire-arms,  however,  struck  them  with  dismay. 
They  thought  they  were  contending  with  demons, 
who  vomited  forth  thunder  and  lightning,  es- 
pecially when  they  saw  their  companions  fall 
bleeding  and  dead  beside  them,  without  i*eceiving 
any  apparent  blow.  They  took  to  headlong 
fiiglit,  and  were  hotly  pursued  by  the  Spaniards 
and  their  bloodhounds.  Some  were  transfixed 
with  lances,  others  hewn  down  with  swords,  and 
many  were  torn  to  pieces  by  the  dogs,  so  that 
Quarii,quk  and  six  hundred  of  his  warriors  were 
left  dead  upon  the  field. 

A  brother  of  the  cacique  and  several  chiefs 
were  taken  prisoners.  They  were  clad  in  robes 
of  white  cotton.  Either  from  their  effeminate 
dress,  or  from  the  accusations  of  their  enemies, 
the  Spaniards,  were  induced  to  consider  then? 
guilty  of  unnatural  crimes,  and,  in  their  abhor- 

voL.  III.  13 


194 


VOYAGED  AND  DliSCOVERlES  OF 


renoe  and  disgust,  gave  them  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  bloodhounds.-^ 

It  is  also  affirmed,  that  among  the  prisoners 
were  several  negroes,  who  had  been  slaves  to 
the  cacique.  The  Spaniards,  we  are  told,  were 
informed  by  the  other  captives,  that  these  black 
men  came  from  a  region  at  no  great  distance, 
where  there  was  a  people  of  that  color,  with 
whom  they  were  frequently  at  war.  "  These/' 
adds  the  Spanish  writer,  "  were  the  first  negroes 
ever  found  in  the  New  World,  and  I  believe  no 
others  have  since  been  discovered."  ^ 

After  this  sanguinary  triumph,  the  Spaniards 
marched  to  the  village  of  Quaraqua,  where  they 
found  considerable  booty  in  gold  and  jewels.  Of 
this  Vasco  Nunez  reserved  one  fifth  for  the 
crown,  and  shared  the  rest  liberally  among  his 
followers.  The  village  was  at  the  foot  of  the  last 
mountain  that  remained  for  them  to  climb  ;  sev- 
eral of  the  Spaniards,  however,  were  so  disabled 
by  wounds  received  in  battle,  so  or  exhausted  by 

1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  x.  cap.  1, 

2  Peter  Martyr,  in  his  tliird  Decade,  makes  mention  oi 
these  negroes  in  the  folloAving  words  ;  —  "About  two  days 
journey  distant  from  Quaraqua  is  a  region  inhabited  only  b;y 
black  Moors,  exceeding  fierce  and  cruel.  It  is  supposed  that 
in  time  past  certain  black  Moors  sailed  thither  out  of  Ethi- 
opia to  rob,  and  that  by  shipwreck,  or  some  other  chance, 
they  were  driven  to  these  mountains."  As  Martyr  lived  and 
wrote  at  the  time,  he  of  course  related  the  mere  rumor  of  the 
day  which  all  subsequent  accounts  have  disproved.  The  othei 
historians  who  mentioned  the  circumstance,  have  probably 
repeated  it  from  him.  It  must  have  risen  frora  some  misrer 
resentation,  and  is  not  entitled  to  credit. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  195 


the  fatigue  and  hunger  they  had  endured,  that 
they  were  unable  to  proceed.  They  were  obliged 
therefore  reluctantly  to  remain  in  the  village, 
[  withm  sight  of  the  mountain-top  tliat  commanded 
I  the  long-sought  prospect.  Vasco  Nunez  selected 
fresh  guides  from  among  his  prisoners,  who  were 
natives  of  the  province,  and  sent  back  the  sub- 
jects of  Ponca.  Of  the  band  of  Spaniards  who 
had  set  out  with  him  in  this  enterprise,  sixty- 
seven  alone  remained  in  sufficient  health  and 
spirits  for  this  last  effort.  These  he  ordered  to 
retire  early  to  repose,  that  they  might  be  ready 
to  set  off*  at  the  cool  and  fresh  hour  of  daybreak, 
so  as  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  mountain  before 
the  noontide  heat. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISCOVERY  OP  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

The  day  had  scarce  dawned,  when  Vasoa 
Nunez  and  his  followers  set  forth  from  the  Indian 
village,  and  began  to  climb  the  height.  It  was  a 
severe  and  rugged  toil  for  men  so  wayworn  ;  but 
they  were  filled  with  new  ardor  at  the  idea  of  the 
triumphant  scene  that  was  so  soon  to  repay  them 
for  all  their  hardships. 

About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  em-erged 
from  the  thick  forests  through  which  they  had 
hitherto  struggled,  and  arrived  at  a  lofty  and  airy 
region  of  the  mountain.    The  bald  summit  aloua 


196       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


remained  to  be  ascended  ;  and  their  guides  pointed 
to  a  moderate  eminence,  from  which  they  said 
the  southern  sea  was  visible. 

Upon  this  Vasco  Nunez  commanded  his  fob 
lowers  to  halt,  and  that  no  man  should  stir  from 
his  place.  Then,  with  a  palpitating  heart,  he 
ascended  alone  the  bare  mountain-top.  On 
reaching  the  summit,  the  long  desired  prospect 
burst  upon  his  view.  It  was  as  if  a  new  world 
were  unfolded  to  him,  separated  from  all  hitherto 
known  by  this  mighty  barrier  of  mountains. 
Below  him  extended  a  vast  chaos  of  rock  and 
forest,  and  green  savannas  and  wandering  streams, 
while  at  a  distance  the  waters  of  the  promised 
ocean  glittered  in  the  morning  sun. 

At  this  glorious  prospect  Vasco  Nunez  sank 
upon  his  knees,  and  poured  out  thanks  to  God 
for  being  the  first  European  to  whom  it  was 
given  to  make  that  great  discovery.  He  then 
called  his  people  to  ascend  :  "  Behold,  my 
friends,'*  said  he,  "  that  glorious  sight  which  we 
have  so  much  desired.  Let  us  give  thanks  to 
God  that  he  has  granted  us  this  great  honor  and 
advantage.  Let  us  pray  to  Him  to  guide  and 
aid  us  to  conquer  the  sea  and  land  which  we 
have  discovered,  and  which  Christian  has  never 
entered  to  preach  the  holy  doctrine  of  the  Evan- 
gelists. As  to  yourselves,  be  as  you  have  hith- 
erto been,  faithful  and  true  to  me,  and  by  the 
favor  of  Christ  you  will  become  the  richest 
Spaniards  that  have  ever  come  to  the  Lidies ; 
you  will  render  the  greatest  services  to  your 
king  that  ever  vassal  rendered  to  his  lord  ;  and 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLL  M BUS.  197 


yoi;  will  have  tlie  eternal  glory  and  advantage  of 
all  that  is  here  discovered,  conquered,  and  con- 
verted to  onr  holy  Catholic  faith." 

The  Spaniards  answ^ered  this  speech  by  em 
bracing  Vtisco  Nunez,  and  promising  to  follow^ 
him  to  death.  Among  them  was  a  priest,  named 
Andres  de  Vara,  who  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
chanted  Te  Deum  laudamus  —  the  usual  anthem 
of  Spanish  discoverers.  The  rest,  kneeling 
down,  joined  in  the  strain  with  pious  enthusiasm 
and  tears  of  joy  ;  and  never  did  a  more  sincere 
oblation  rise  to  the  Deity  from  a  sanctified  altar, 
than  from  that  mountain  summit.  It  was  indeed 
one  of  the  most  sublime  liscoveries  that  had  yet 
been  tnade  in  the  New  World,  and  must  have 
opened  a  boundless  field  of  conjecture  to  the 
wondering  Spaniards.  The  imagination  delights 
to  picture  forth  the  splendid  confusion  of  their 
thoughts.  Was  this  the  great  Indian  Ocean, 
studded  with  precious  islands,  abounding  in  gold, 
in  gems,  in  spices,  and  bordered  by  the  gorgeous 
cities  and  wealthy  marts  of  the  East  ?  or  was  it 
some  lonely  sea,  locked  up  in  the  embraces  of 
savage  uncultivated  continents,  and  never  trav- 
ersed by  a  bark,  excepting  the  light  pirogue  of 
the  savage  ?  The  latter  could  hardly  be  the 
case,  for  the  natives  had  told  the  Spaniards  of 
golden  realms,  and  populous  and  powerful  and 
luxurious  nations  upon  its  shores.  Perhaps  it 
;night  be  bordered  by  various  people,  civilized  in 
fact,  though  differing  from  Europe  in  their  civili- 
cation  ;  who  might  have  peculiar  laws  and  cus-- 
toms,  and  arts  and  sciences  ;  who  might  form,  aa 


198 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


It  were,  a  world  of  their  own,  intercomm lining 
.  by  this  mighty  sea,  and  ciirrying  on  commerce 
between  their  own  islands  and  continents  ;  but 
who  might  exist  in  total  ignorance  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  other  hemisphere. 

Such  may  naturally  have  been  the  ideas  sug- 
gested by  the  sight  of  this  unknown  ocean.  It 
was  the  prevalent  belief  of  the  Spaniards,  how- 
ever, that  they  were  the  first  Christians  who  had 
made  the  discovery.  Vasco  Nuiiez,  tlierefore, 
called  upon  all  present  to  witness  that  he  took 
possession  of  that  sea,  its  islands,  and  surround- 
ing lands,  in  the  name  of  the  sovereigns  of 
Castile,  and  the  notary  of  the  expedition  made  a 
testimonial  of  the  same,  to  which  all  present,  to 
the  number  of  sixty  -  seven  men,  signed  their 
names.  He  then  caused  a  fair  and  tall  tree  to 
be  cut  down  and  wrought  into  a  cross,  which  was 
elevated  on  the  spot  whence  he  had  first  beheld 
the  sea.  A  mound  of  stones  was  likewise  piled 
up  to  serve  as  a  monument,  and  the  names  of 
the  Castilian  sovereigns  were  carved  on  the 
neighboring  trees.  The  Indians  beheld  all  these 
ceremonials  and  rejoicings  in  silent  wonder,  and 
while  they  aided  to  erect  the  cross,  and  piled  up 
the  mound  of  stones,  marveled  exceedingly  at 
the  meaning  of  these  moimments,  little  thinking 
lhat  they  marked  the  subjugation  of  their  land. 

The  memorable  event  here  recorded  took  place 
on  the  26th  of  September,  1513  ;  so  that  the 
Spaniards  had  spent  twenty  days  in  performing 
the  journey  from  the  province  of  Careta  to  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  a  distance   which  at 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  199 


present,  it  is  said,  does  not  reqnii-e  more  than 
Bix  iays  travel.  Indeed,  the  isthmus  in  this 
neighborhood  is  not  more  than  eighteen  leagues 
in  breadth  in  its  widest  part,  and  in  some  places 
merely  seven ;  but  it  consists  of  a  ridge  of  ex- 
tremeiy  high  and  rugged  mountains.  When  the 
discoverers  traversed  it,  they  had  no  route  but 
the  Indian  paths,  and  often  had  to  force  their 
way  amidst  all  kinds  of  obstacles,  both  from  the 
savage  country  and  its  savage  inhabitants.  In 
fact,  the  details  of  this  narrative  sufficiently  ac- 
count for  the  slowness  of  their  progress,  and 
present  an  array  of  difficulties  and  perils,  which, 
as  has  been  well  observed,  none  but  those  "  men 
of  iron  "  could  have  subdued  and  overcome.^ 


CHAPTER  X. 

VASCO  NUNEZ  MARCHES  TO  THE  SHORES  OF  THE  SOUTH 
SEA. 

[1513.] 

Having-  taken  possession  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  all  its  realms  from  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain, Yasco  Nunez  now  descended  with  his  little 
band,  to  seek  the  regions  of.  reputed  wealth  upon 
its  shores.  IJe  had  not  proceeded  far,  when  he 
came  to  the  province  of  a  warlike  cacique,  named 

1  Yidas  de  Espaiioles  C^lebres,  por  Don  Manuel  Josef 
^uintaua,  torn.  ii.  p.  40. 


200       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Chiapes,  wlio,  issuing  forth  at  the  head  of  hig 
warriors,  looked  with  scorn  upon  the  scanty 
nnoiber  of  straggling  Spaniards,  and  forbade 
them  to  set  foot  within  his  territories.  Vasco 
Nunez  depended  for  safety  upon  his  power  of 
striking  terror  into  the  ignorant  savages.  Or- 
dering his  arquebusiers  to  the  front,  he  poured  a 
volley  into  the  enemy,  and  then  let  loose  the 
bloodhounds.  The  flash  and  noise  of  the  fire- 
arms, and  the  sulphurous  smoke  which  was  car- 
ried by  the  wind  among  the  Indians,  overwhelmed 
them  with  dismay.  Some  fell  down  in  a  panic 
as  though  they  had  been  struck  by  thunderbolts, 
the  rest  betook  themselves  to  headlono;  flicrht. 

Vasco  Nunez  commanded  his  men  to  refrain 
from  needless  slaughter.  He  made  many  pris- 
oners, and  on  arriving  at  the  village,  sent  some 
of  them  in  search  of  their  cacique,  accompanied 
by  several  of  his  Indian  guides.  The  latter 
informed  Chiapes  of  the  supernatural  power  of 
the  Spaniards,  assuring  him  that  they  extermin- 
ated with  thunder  and  lightning  all  who  dared  to 
oppose  them,  but  loaded  all  such  as  submitted  to 
them  with  benefits.  They  advised  him,  there 
fore,  to  throw  himself  upon  their  mercy  and  seek 
their  friendship. 

The  cacique  listened  to  their  advice,  and  came 
trembling  to  the  Spaniards,  bringing  with  him 
five  hundred  pounds^  weight  of  wrought  gold  as 
a  peace-offering,  for  he  had  already  learnt  the 
value  they  set  upon  that  metal.  Vasco  Nunez 
received  him  with  great  kindness,  and  graciously 
accepted  his  gold,  for  which  he  gave  him  beads, 


niE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  20 


hawks'- bells,  and  looking-glasses,  making  him  in 
his  own  conceit  the  richest  potentate  on  that  side 
of  the  mountains. 

Friendship  being  thus  established  between 
them,  Vasco  Nunez  remaitied  at  the  village  for  a 
few  days,  sending  back  the  guides  who  had  ac- 
companied him  from  Quaraqua,  and  ordering  his 
people  whom  he  had  left  at  that  place  to  rejoin 
him.  In  the  mean  time  he  sent  out  three  scout- 
ing parties  of  twelve  men  each,  under  Francisco 
Pizarro,  Juan  de  Escaray,  and  Alonzo  Martin  de 
Bon  Benito,  to  explore  the  surrounding  country 
and  discover  the  best  route  to  the  sea.  Alonzo 
Martin  was  the  most  successful.  After  two  days' 
journey,  he  came  to  a  beach,  where  he  found  two 
large  canoes  lying  high  and  dry,  without  any 
water  being  in  sight.  While  the  Spaniards  were 
regarding  these  canoes,  and  wondering  why  they 
should  be  so  far  on  land,  the  tide,  which  rises 
to  a  great  height  on  that  coast,  came  rapidly  in 
and  set  them  afloat;  upon  this,  Alonzo  Martin 
stepped  into  one  of  them,  and  called  his  compan- 
ions to  bear  witness  that  he  was  the  first  Euro- 
pean that  embarked  upon  that  sea  ;  his  example 
was  followed  by  one  Bias  de  Etienza,  who  called 
them  likewise  to  testify  that  he  was  the  second.-^ 

We  mention  minute  particulars  of  the  kind,  as 
being  characteristic  of  these  extraordinary  enter- 
prises, and  of  the  extraordinary  people  Avho  un- 
dertook them.  The  humblest  of  these  Spanish 
adventurers  seemed  actuated  by  a  swelling  and 
ambitious  spirit,  which  rose  superior  at  times  to 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.  decad.  i.  lib.  x,  cap.  2- 


202 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


mere  sordid  considerations,  and  aspired  to  sharp 
the  glory  of  these  great  discoveries.  The  scout- 
ing party  having  thus  explored  a  direct  route  to 
the  sea-coast,  returned  to  report  their  success  to 
their  commander. 

Vasco  Nunez,  being*  rejoined  by  his  men  from 
Quaraquk,  nov^  left  the  greater  part  of  his  follow- 
ers to  repose  and  recover  from  their  sickness  and 
fatigues  in  the  village  of  Chiapes ;  and,  taking 
with  him  twenty-six  Spaniards,  well  armed,  ho 
set  out  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  September,  for  the 
sea-coast,  accompanied  by  the  cacique  and  a  num- 
ber of  his  warriors.  The  thick  forests,  which 
covered  the  mountains,  descended  to  the  very 
margin  of  the  sea,  surrounding  and  overshadow- 
ing the  wide  and  beautiful  bays  that  penetrated 
far  into  the  land.  The  whole  coast,  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  was  perfectly  wild,  the  sea  with- 
out a  sail,  and  both  seemed  never  to  have  been 
under  the  dominion  of  civilized  man. 

Vasco  Nunez  arrived  on  the  borders  of  one  of 
those  vast  bays,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
Saint  Michael,  it  being  discovered  on  that  saint's 
day.  The  tide  was  out,  the  water  was  above 
half  a  league  distant,  and  the  intervening  beach 
was  covered  with  mud ;  he  seated  himself,  there- 
fore, under  the  shade  of  the  forest  trees,  until  the 
tide  should  rise.  After  a  while,  the  water  came 
rushing  in  with  great  impetuosity,  and  soon 
reaehed  nearly  to  the  place  where  the  Spaniards 
were  reposing.  Upon  this  Yasco  Nunez  rose  and 
took  a  banner  on  which  were  painted  the  Virgin 
and  Child,  and  under  them  the  arms  of  Castilo 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  203 


fliid  Leon  ;  then  drawing  his  sword  and  throwing 
liis  buckler  on  his  shoulder,  he  marched  into  the 
Bea  until  the  water  reached  above  his  knees,  and 
waving  his  banner,  exclaimed  with  a  loud  voice, 
"  Long  live  the  high  and  mighty  monarchs,  Don 
Ferdinand  and  Donna  Juana,  sovereigns  of  Cas- 
tile, of  Leon,  and  of  Arragon,  in  whose  name, 
and  for  the  royal  crown  of  Castile,  I  take  real, 
and  corporal,  and  actual  possession  of  these  seas, 
and  lands,  and  coasts,  and  ports,  and  islands  of 
the  south,  and  all  thereunto  annexed  ;  and  of  the 
kingdoms  and  provinces  which  do  or  may  apper- 
tain to  them,  in  w^hatever  manner,  or  by  what- 
ever right  or  title,  ancient  or  modern,  in  times 
past,  present,  or  to  come,  without  any  contradic- 
tion ;  and  if  other  prince  or  captain,  Christian  or 
infidel,  or  of  any  law,  sect,  or  condition  whatso- 
ever, shall  pretend  any  right  to  these  lands  and 
seas,  I  am  ready  and  prepared  to  maintain  and 
defend  them,  in  the  name  of  the  Castilian  sover- 
eigns present  and  future,  whose  is  the  empire  and 
dominion  over  these  Indian  islands,  and  Terra 
Firma,  northern  and  southern,  with  all  their  seas, 
both  at  the  arctic  and  antarctic  poles,  on  either 
side  of  the  equinoctial  line,  whether  within  or 
without  the  tropics  of  Cancer  and  Capricorn,  both 
now  and  in  all  times,  as  long  as  the  world  en- 
dures, and  unto  the  final  day  of  judgment  of  all 
mankind." 

This  swelling  declaration  and  defiance  being 
uttered  with  a  loud  voice,  and  no  one  appearing 
to  dispute  his  pretensions,  Vasco  Nunez  called 
jpon  his  companions  to  bear  witness  of  the  fact 


204      VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


of  his  having  duly  taken  possession.  They  all 
declared  themselves  ready  to  defend  his  claim  to 
the  uttermost,  as  became  true  and  loyal  vassala 
to  the  Castilian  sovereigns ;  and  the  notary  hav- 
ing drawn  up  a  document  for  the  occasion,  the} 
Bubscribed  it  with  their  names. 

This  done,  they  advanced  to  the  margin  of  the 
soa,  and  stooping  down,  tasted  its  waters.  When 
they  found  that,  though  severed  by  intervening 
mountains  and  continents,  they  were  salt  like  the 
seas  of  the  north,  they  felt  assured  that  they  had 
indeed  discovered  an  ocean,  and  again  returned 
thanks  to  God. 

Having  concluded  all  these  ceremonies,  Vasco 
Nunez  drew  a  dagger  from  his  girdle,  and  cut  a 
cross  on  a  tree  which  grew  v/ithin  the  water,  and 
made  two  other  crosses  on  two  adjacent  trees,  in 
honor  of  the  Three  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  and 
in  token  of  possession.  His  followers  likewise 
cut  crosses  on  many  of  the  trees  of  the  adjacent 
forest,  and  lopped  off  branches  with,  their  swords 
to  bear  away  as  trophies.-^ 

Such  was  the  singular  medley  of  chivalrous 
and  religious  ceremonial,  with  which  these  Span- 
ish adventurers  took  possession  of  the  vast 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  all  its  lands  —  a  scene  strong- 
ly characteristic  of  the  nation  and  the  age. 

1  Many  of  the  foregoing  particulars  are  from  the  unpu^>>« 
wished  volumo  of  Oviedo's  History  of  the  Indies. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  205 


CIIAFTER  XI. 

ADVENTURES  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  TUB 
PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

[1513.] 

Whiie  he  made  the  village  of  Chiapes  his 
head  quarters,  Vasco  Nunez  foraged  the  adjacent 
country,  and  obtained  considerable  quantities  of 
gold  from  the  natives.  Encouraged  by  his  suc- 
cess, he  undertook  to  explore  by  sea  the  borders 
of  a  neighboring  gulf  of  great  extent,  which 
penetrated  far  into  the  land.  The  cacique 
Chiapes  warned  him  of  the  danger  of  venturing 
to  sea  in  the  stormy  season,  which  comprises  the 
months  of  October,  November,  and  December, 
assuring  him  that  he  had  beheld  many  canoes 
swallowed  up  in  the  mighty  waves  and  whirl- 
pools, which  at  such  time  render  the  gulf  almost 
unnavigable. 

These  remonstrances  were  unavailing:  Vasco 
Nunez  expressed  a  confident  belief  that  God 
would  protect  him,  seeing  that  his  voyage  was  to 
redound  to  the  propagation  of  the  faith,  and  the 
augmentation  of  the  power  of  the  Castilian  mon- 
archs  over  the  infidels ;  and  in  truth  this  bigoted 
reliance  on  the  immediate  protection  of  Heaven 
seems  to  have  been,  in  a  great  measure,  the  cause 
of  the  extravagant  daring  of  the  Spaniards  in  their 
expeditions  in  those  days,  whether  against  Moors 
»)f  Indians. 

Finding  his  re  presentations  of  no  effect,  Cliiapes 


206       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


volunteered  to  take  part  in  this  perilous  cruise, 
lest  he  should  appear  wanting  in  courage,  or  in 
good-will  to  his  guest.  Accompanied  by  the  ca- 
cique, therefore,  Vasco  Nunez  embarked  on  tho 
17th  of  October,  with  sixty  men  in  nine  canoes, 
managed  by  Indians,  leaving  the  residue  of  his  fol- 
lowers to  recruit  their  health  and  strength  in  the 
village  of  Chiapes. 

Scarcely  however  had  they  put  forth  on  the 
broad  bosom  of  the  gulf,  when  the  wisdom  of  the 
cacique's  advice  was  made  apparent.  The  wind 
began  to  blow  freshly,  raising  a  heavy  and  tu- 
multuous sea,  which  broke  m  roaring  and  foaming 
surges  on  the  rocks  and  reefs,  and  among  the 
numerous  islets  with  which  the  gulf  was  studded. 
The  light  canoes  were  deeply  laden  with  men  un- 
skilled in  their  management.  It  was  frightful  to 
those  in  one  canoe  to  behold  their  companions,  one 
instant  tossed  high  on  the  breaking  crest  of  a 
wave,  the  next  plunging  out  of  sight,  in  a  watery 
abyss.  The  Indians  themselves,  though  almost 
amphibious  in  their  habits,  showed  signs  of  con- 
sternation ;  for  amidst  these  rocks  and  breaker? 
even  the  skill  of  the  expert  swimmer  would  be 
of  little  avail.  At  length  the  Indians  succeeded 
in  tying  the  canoes  in  pairs,  side  by  side,  to  pre 
vent  their  being  overturned,  and  in  this  way  they 
kept  afloat,  until  towards  evening  they  were  en- 
abled to  reach  a  small  island.  Here  they  landed, 
and  fastening  the  canoes  to  the  rocks,  or  to  small 
trees  that  grew  upon  the  shore,  they  sought  an 
elevated  dry  place,  and  stretched  themselves  to 
take  repose.    They  had  but  escaped  from  one 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  207 

danger  to  encounter  another.  Having  been  for  a 
long  time  accustomed  to  the  sea  on  the  northern 
Bide  of  the  isthmus,  where  there  is  little,  if  any, 
rise  or  fall  of  the  tide,  they  had  neglected  to  take 
any  precaution  against  such  an  occurrence.  In  a 
little  while  they  were  awakened  by  the  rapid  rising 
of  the  water.  They  shifted  their  situation,  to  a 
higher  ground,  but  the  waters  continued  to  gain 
upon  them,  the  breakers  rushing  and  roaring,  and 
foaming  upon  the  beach,  like  so  many  monsters 
of  the  deep  seeking  for  their  prey.  Nothing,  it  is 
said,  can  be  more  dismal  and  appalling  than  the 
sullen  bellowing  of  the  sea  among  the  islands  of 
that  gulf,  at  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  tide.  By 
degrees,  rock  after  rock,  and  one  sand-bank  after 
another,  disappeared,  until  the  sea  covered  the 
whole  island,  and  rose  almost  to  the  girdles  of  the 
Spaniards.  Their  situation  was  now  agonizing. 
A  little  more,  and  the  waters  would  overwhelm 
them:  or,  even  as  it  was,  the  least  surge  might 
break  over  them  and  sweep  them  from  their  un- 
steady footing.  Fortunately  the  wind  had  lulled, 
and  the  sea,  having  risen  above  the  rocks  which 
had  fretted  it,  became  calm.  The  tide  had  reached 
its  height  and  began  to  subside,  and  after  a  time 
they  heard  the  retiring  waves  beating  against  the 
rocks  below  them. 

When  the  day  dawned,  they  sought  their  canoes  ; 
but  here  a  sad  spectacle  met  their  eyes.  Some  were 
broken  to  pieces,  others  yawning  open  in  many 
parts.  The  clothing  and  food  left  in  them  had 
been  washed  away,  and  replaced  by  sand  and 
wat^i    The  Spaniards  gazed  on  the  scene  in  mut,e 


208     voyagjlS  and  bijscovebjes  of 


des])air ;  tliej  were  faint  and  weary,  and  needed 
food  and  repose,  but  famine  and  labor  awaited 
them,  even  if  they  should  escape  with  their  lives. 
Yasco  Nuiiez,  however,  rallied  their  spirits,  and 
set  them  an  example  by  his  own  cheerful  exer- 
tions. Obeying  his  directions,  they  set  to  work  to 
repair,  in  the  best  manner  they  were  able,  the 
damages  of  the  canoes.  Such  as  were  not  too 
much  shattered  they  bound  and  braced  up  with 
their  girdles,  with  slips  of  the  bark  of  trees,  or 
with  the  tough  long  stalks  of  certain  sea-weeds. 
They  then  peeled  off  the  bark  from  the  small  sea- 
plants,  pounded  it  between  stones,  and  mixed  it 
with  ^rass,  and  with  this  endeavored  to  calk  the 
seamft  and  stop  the  leaks.  When  reembarked, 
their  numbers  weighed  down  the  canoes  almost  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  as  they  rose  and  sank  with 
the  swelling  waves  there  was  danger  of  their  being 
swallowed  up.  All  day  they  labored  with  the  sea, 
suffering  excessively  from  hunger  and  tliirst,  and 
at  nightfall  they  landed  in  a  corner  of  the  gulf, 
near  the  abode  of  a  cacique  named  Tumaco.  Leav- 
ing a  part  of  his  men  to  guard  the  canoes,  Yasco 
Nunez  set  out  with  the  residue  for  the  Indian 
town.  He  arrived  there  about  midnight,  but  the 
uihabitants  were  on  the  alert  to  defend  their  habi- 
tations. The  fire-arms  and  dogs  soon  put  them  to 
flight,  and  the  Spaniards  pursuing  them  with  their 
swords,  drove  them  howling  into  the  woods.  In 
the  village  were  found  provisions  in  abundance, 
beside  a  considerable  amount  of  gold  and  a  great 
quantity  of  pearls,  many  of  them  of  a  large  size. 
In  the  house  of  the  cacique  were  several  huge 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  209 


shells  of  mother-of-pearl,  and  four  pearl  oysters 
quite  fresh,  which  showed  that  there  was  a  pearl 
lisliery  in  the  neighborhood.  Eager  to  learn  the 
sources  of  this  wealth,  Yasco  j^uiiez  sent  several 
of  the  Indians  of  Cliiapes  in  search  of  the  cacique, 
who  traced  him  to  a  wild  retreat  among  the  rocks. 
By  their  persuasions  Tumaco  sent  his  son,  a  fine 
young  savage,  as  a  mediator.  The  latter  returned 
to  his  father  loaded  with  presents,  and  extolling 
the  benignity  of  these  superhuman  beings,  who 
had  shown  themselves  so  terrible  in  battle.  By 
these  means,  and  by  a  mutual  exchange  of  pres- 
ents, a  friendly  intercourse  was  soon  established. 
Among  other  things  the  cacique  gave  Yasco  Nuiiez 
jewels  of  gold  weighing  six  hundred  and  fourteen 
crowns,  and  two  hundred  pearls  of  great  size  and 
beauty,  excepting  that  they  were  somewhat  dis- 
colored in  consequence  of  the  oysters  having  been 
opened  by  fire. 

The  cacique,  seeing  the  value  which  the  Span- 
iards set  upon  the  pearls,  sent  a  number  of  his 
men  to  fish  for  them  at  a  place  about  ten  miles 
distant.  Certain  of  the  Indians  were  trained  from 
their  youth  to  this  purpose,  so  as  to  become  ex- 
pert divers,  and  to  acquire  the  power  of  remain- 
ing a  long  time  beneath  the  water.  The  largest 
pearls  are  generally  found  in  the  deepest  water, 
sometimes  in  three  and  four  fathoms,  and  are  only 
sought  in  calm  weather  ;  the  smaller  sort  are  found 
at  the  depth  of  two  and  three  feet,  and  the  oysters 
containing  them  are  often  driven  in  quantities  on 
the  beach  during  violent  storms. 

The  party  of  pearl-divers  sent  by  the  cacique, 

VOL.  111.  U 


210       VOYAGJ^S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


consisted  of  thirty  Indians,  with  whom  Yasiio 
Nuilez  sent  six  Spaniards  as  eye-witnesses.  The 
Bea,  however,  was  so  furious  at  that  stormy  season, 
that  the  divers  dared  not  venture  into  the  deep 
water.  Such  a  number  of  the  shell-fish,  however, 
had  been  driven  on  shore,  that  they  collected 
enough  to  yield  pearls  to  the  value  of  twelve 
marks  of  gold.  They  were  small,  but  exceed- 
ingly beautiful,  being  newly  taken  and  uninjured 
by  fire.  A  number  of  these  shell-fish,  and  their 
pearls,  were  selected  to  be  sent  to  Spain  as  spec- 
imens. 

In  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  Vasco  Nunez,  the 
cacique  informed  him  that  the  coast  which  he 
saw  stretching  to  the  west  continued  onwards 
without  end,  and  that  far  to  the  south  there  was 
a  country  abounding  in  gold,  where  the  inhabi- 
tants made  use  of  certain  quadrupeds  to  carry 
burdens.  He  moulded  a  figure  of  clay  to  rep- 
resent these  animals,  which  some  of  the  Span- 
iards supposed  to  be  a  deer,  others  a  camel, 
others  a  tapir ;  for  as  yet  they  knew  nothing  of 
the  lama,  the  native  beast  of  burden  of  South 
America.  This  was  the  second  intimation  re- 
ceived by  Vasco  Nunez  of  the  great  empire  of 
Peru  ;  and,  while  it  confirmed  all  that  had  been 
^old  him  by  the  son  of  Comagre,  it  awakened 
glowing  anticipations  of  the  glorious  triumphs 
that  awaited  him. 


THE  COMPANIONS   OF  COLUMBUS,  2U 


CHAPTER  XII. 

fARTIIER  ADVENTURES  AND  EXPLOITS  OF  VASCO  NUNM 
ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN 

[1513.] 

Lest  any  ceremonial  should  be  wanting  to 
Bccure  his  grand  discovery  to  the  crown  of  Spain, 
Yasco  Nunez  determined  to  sally  from  the  gulf 
and  take  possession  of  the  mainland  beyond. 
The  cacique  Tumaco  furnished  him  with  a  canoe 
of  state,  formed  from  the  trunk  of  an  enormous 
tree,  and  managed  by  a  great  number  of  Indians. 
The  handles  of  the  paddles  were  inlaid  with 
small  pearls,  a  circumstance  which  Vasco  Nunez 
caused  his  companions  to  testify  before  the  no- 
tary, that  it  might  be  reported  to  the  sovereigns 
as  a  proof  of  the  wealth  of  this  newly  discov- 
ered sea.^ 

Departing  in  the  canoe  on  the  29th  of  Octo- 
ber, he  w^as  piloted  cautiously  by  the  Indians 
along  the  borders  of  the  gulf,  over  drowned 
lands  where  the  sea  was  fringed  by  inundated 
forests,  and  as  still  as  a  pool.  Arrived  at  the 
point  of  the  gulf,  Vasco  Nunez  landed  on  a 
smooth  sandy  beach,  laved  by  the  waters  of  the 
broad  ocean,  and,  with  buckler  on  arm,  sword  in 
hand,  and  banner  displayed,  again  marched  into 
the  sea  and  took  possession  of  it,  with  like  cere- 
monials to  tiiose  observed  in  the  Gulf  o)  St 
MichaeFs. 

1  Oviedo,  Hist.  Gen.,  p.  2,  MS. 


212     voyagilS  and  discoveries  of 


The  Indians  now  pointed  to  a  line  of  land 
rising  above  the  horizon  about  four  or  five 
leagues  distant,  which  they  described  as  being  a 
great  island,  the  principal  one  of  an  archipelago. 
The  whole  group  abounded  with  pearls,  but  those 
taken  on  the  coasts  of  this  island  were  repre- 
eented  as  being  of  immense  size,  many  of  them 
as  large  as  a  man's  eye,  and  found  in  shell-fish 
as  big  as  bucklers.  This  island  and  the  sur- 
rounding cluster  of  small  ones,  they  added,  were 
under  the  dominion  of  a  tyrannical  and  puissant 
cacique,  who  often,  during  the  calm  seasons, 
made  descents  upon  the  mainland  with  fleets  of 
canoes,  plundering  and  desolating  the  coasts,  and 
carrying  the  people  into  captivity. 

Vasco  Nunez  gazed  with  an  eager  and  wistful 
eye  at  this  land  of  riches,  and  would  have  imme- 
ately  undertaken  an  expedition  to  it,  had  not  the 
Indians  represented  the  danger  of  venturing  on 
such  a  voyage  in  that  tempestuous  season,  in  their 
frail  canoes.  His  own  recent  experience  con- 
vinced him  of  the  wisdom  of  their  remonstrances. 
He  postponed  his  visit,  therefore,  to  a  future 
occasion,  when,  he  assured  his  allies,  he  would 
avenge  them  upon  this  tyrant  invader,  and  de- 
liver their  coasts  from  his  maraudings.  In  the 
mean  time  he  gave  to  this  island  the  name  of 
Isla  Rica,  and  the  little  archipelago  surrounding 
it  the  general  appellation  of  the  Pearl  Islands. 

On  the  3d  of  November,  he  departed  from  the 
province  of  Tumaco,  to  visit  other  parts  of  the 
coast.  He  embarked  with  his  men  in  the  canoes, 
accompanied   by  Chiapes  and  his  Indians,  and 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS. 


213 


guided  by  the  son  of  Tumaco,  who  had  become 
Btrongly  attached  to  the  Spaniards.  The  young 
man  piloted  them  along  an  arm  of  the  sea,  wide 
in  some  places,  but  in  others  obstructed  by  groves 
of  mangrove  trees,  which  grew  within  the  water, 
and  interlaced  their  branches  from  shore  to  shore, 
so  that  at  times  the  Spaniards  were  obliged  to 
cut  a  passage  with  their  swords. 

At  length  they  entered  a  great  and  turbulent 
river,  whi.ch  they  ascended  with  difficulty,  and 
early  the  next  morning  surprised  a  village  on  its 
banks,  making  the  cacique  Teaochan  prisoner ; 
who  purchased  their  favor  and  kind  treatment  by 
a  quantity  of  gold  and  pearls,  and  an  abundant 
supply  of  provisions.  As  it  was  the  intention  of 
Vasco  Nuiiez  to  abandon  the  shores  of  the 
Southern  Ocean  at  this  place,  and  to  strike  across 
the  mountains  for  Darien,  he  took  leave  of 
Chiapes  and  of  the  youthful  son  of  Tumaco,  who 
were  to  return  to  their  houses  in  the  canoes. 
He  sent  at  the  same  time,  a  message  to  his  men, 
whom  he  had  left  in  the  village  of  Chiapes,  ap- 
pointing a  place  in  the  mountains  where  they 
were  to  rejoin  him  on  his  way  back  to  Darien. 

The  talent  of  Vasco  Nunez  for  conciliating 
and  winning  the  good  will  of  the  savages  is  often 
mentioned,  and  to  such  a  degree  had  he  exerted 
it  in  the  present  instance,  that  the  two  chieftains 
shed  tears  at  parting.  Their  conduct  had  a  fa- 
vorable effect  upon  the  cacique  Teaochan ;  he 
entertained  Vasco  Nunez  with  the  most  devoted 
hospitality  during  three  days  that  he  remained 
m  his  village ;  when  about  to  depart,  he  fur 


214       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


nished  him  with  a  stock  of  provisions  sufficient 
for  several  days,  as  his  route  would  be  over  rocky 
and  sterile  mountains.  He  sent  also  a  numerous 
band  of  his  subjects  to  carry  the  burdens  of  the 
Spaniards.  These  he  placed  under  the  command 
of  his  son,  whom  he  ordered  never  to  separate 
from  the  strangers,  nor  to  permit  any  of  his  men 
to  return  without  the  consent  of  Vasco  Nuiiez, 


CHAPTER  XML 

VASCO  NUNEZ  SETS  OUl  ON  HIS  RETURN  ACROSS  THB 
MOUNTAINS.  — HIS  CONTESTS  WITH  THE  SAVAGES. 

Turning  their  backs  upon  the  Southern  Sea, 
the  Spaniards  now  began  painfully  to  clamber 
the  rugged  mountains  on  their  return  to  Darien. 

In  the  early  part  of  their  route  an  unlooked- 
for  suffering  awaited  them  :  there  was  neither 
brook  nor  fountain  nor  standing  pool.  The 
burning  heat,  which  produced  intolerable  thirst, 
had  dried  up  all  the  mount^iin  torrents,  and  they 
were  tantalized  by  the  sight  of  naked  and  dusty 
channels,  where  water  had  once  flowed  in  abun- 
iance.  Their  sufferinof  at  leno^th  increased  to  such 
a  height,  that  many  threw  themselves,  fevered 
and  panting,  upon  the  earth,  and  were  ready  to 
give  up  the  ghost.  The  Indians,  however,  en- 
couraged them  to  proceed,  by  hopes  of  speedy 
relief,  and  after  a  while,  turning  aside  from  the 
direct  course,  led  them  into  a  deep  and  narrow 
glen,  refreshed  and  cooled  by  a  fountain  which 
bubbled  out  of  a  cleft  of  the  rocks. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  215 

Wliile  refreshing  themselves  at  the  fountaui, 
and  reposing  in  the  little  valley,  they  learnt  from 
their  gnides  that  they  were  in  the  territories  of  a 
powerful  chief  named  Poncra,  famous  for  his 
riches.  The  Spaniards  had  already  heard  of  the 
golden  stores  of  this  Croesus  of  the  mountains 
and  being  now  refreshed  and  invigorated,  pressed 
forward  with  eagerness  for  his  village.  The 
cacique  and  most  of  his  people  fled  at  their  ap- 
proach, but  they  found  an  earnest  of  his  wealth 
in  the  deserted  houses,  amounting  to  the  value  of 
three  thousand  crowjis  in  gold.  Their  avarice 
thus  whetted,  they  despatched  Indians  in  search 
of  Poncra,  who  found  him  trembling  in  his  secret 
retreat,  and  partly  by  threats,  partly  by  promises, 
prevailed  upon  him  and  three  of  his  principal 
subjects  to  come  to  Vasco  Nunez.  He  was  a 
savage,  it  is  said,  so  hateful  of  aspect,  so  mis- 
shapen in  body  and  deformed  in  all  his  members, 
that  he  was  hideous  to  behold.  The  Spaniards 
endeavored  by  gentle  means  to  draw  from  him 
information  of  the  places  whence  he  procured  his 
gold.  He  professed  utter  ignorance  in  the  matter, 
declaring  that  the  gold  found  in  his  village  had 
been  gathered  by  his  predecessors  in  times  long 
past,  and  that  as  he  himself  set  no  value  on  the 
netal,  he  had  never  troubled  himself  to  seek  it. 
fhe  Spaniards  resorted  to  menaces,  and  even,  it 
j3  said,  to  tortures,  to  compel  him  to  betray  his 
reputed  treasures,  but  with  no  better  success. 
Disappointed  in  their  expectations,  and  enraged 
at  his  supposed  obstinacy,  they  listened  too 
readily  to   charges   advanced   against   him  by 


216 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  CF 


certain  caciques  of  the  neigliborhood,  who  repre- 
sented him  as  a  monster  of  cruelty,  and  as  guilty 
of  crimes  repugnant  to  nature ;  ^  whereupon,  in 
the  heat  of  the  moment,  they  gave  him  and  his 
tliree  companions,  who  were  said  to  be  equally 
guilty,  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  the  dogs- — a  rash 
and  cruel  sentence,  issued  on  the  evidence  of 
avowed  enemies ;  and  which,  however  it  may  be 
palliated  by  the  alleged  horror  and  disgust  of  the 
Spaniards  at  the  imputed  crimes  of  the  cacique, 
bears  visibly  the  stamp  of  haste  and  passion,  and 
remains  accordingly  a  foul  blot  on  the  characte* 
of  Vasco  Nunez. 

The  Spaniards  staid  for  thirty  days  reposing  m 
the  village  of  the  unfortunate  Poncra,  during 
which  time  they  were  rejoined  by  their  com- 
panions, who  had  been  left  behind  at  the  village 
of  Chiapes.  They  were  accompanied  by  a  cacique 
of  the  mountains,  who  had  lodged  and  fed  them, 
and  made  them  presents  of  the  value  of  two 
thousand  crowns  in  gold.  This  hospitable  savage 
approached  Vasco  Nunez  with  a  serene  counte- 
nance, and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  "  Behold," 
said  he,  "most  valiant  and  powerful  chief,  I  bring 
thee  thy  companions  safe  and  well,  as  they 
entered  under  my  roof.  May  He  who  made  the 
thunder  and  lightnmg,  and  w^ho  gives  us  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  preserve  thee  and  thine  in 
safety ! "  So  saying,  he  raised  his  eyes  to  the 
sun,  as  if  he  worshiped  that  as  his  deity  and  ;hii 
dispenser  of  all  temporal  blessings.^ 

1  Peter  Martyr,  decad.  iii.  cap.  2. 

2  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib.  x.  cap.  4. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUAfBUS.  217 

Departing  from  this  village,  and  "being  &tilj 
accompanied  by  the  Indians  of  Teaochan,  the 
Spaniards  now  bent  their  course  along  the  banks 
of  the  river  Comagre,  which  descends  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  isthmus,  and  flows  through  the 
territories  of  the  cacique  of  the  same  name, 
Tliis  wild  stream,  which  in  the  course  of  ages 
had  worn  a  channel  through  the  deep  clefts  and 
ravines  of  the  mountains,  was  bordered  by  preci- 
pices, or  overhung  by  shagged  forests ;  they  soon 
abandoned  it,  therefore,  and  wandered  on  without 
any  path,  but  guided  by  the  Indians.  They  had 
to  climb  terrible  precipices,  and  to  descend  into 
deep  valleys,  darkened  by  thick  forests  and  beset 
by  treacherous  morasses,  where,  but  for  their 
guides,  they  might  have  been  smothered  in  the 
mire. 

In  the  course  of  this  rugged  journey  they 
suffered  excessively  in  consequence  of  their  own 
avarice.  They  had  been  warned  of  the  sterility 
of  the  country,  and  of  the  necessity  of  providing 
amply  for  the  journey.  When  they  came  to  lade 
the  Indians,  however,-  who  bore  their  burdens, 
their  only  thought  was  how  to  convey  the  most 
treasure ;  and  they  grudged  even  a  slender 
supply  of  provisions,  as  taking  up  the  place  of  an 
equal  weight  of  gold.  The  consequences  were 
soon  felt.  The  Indians  could  carry  but  small 
burdens,  and  at  the  same  time  assisted  to  con- 
Bume  the  scanty  stock  of  food  which  formed  part 
of  their  load.  Scarcity  and  famine  ensued,  and 
relief  was  rarely  to  be  procured,  for  the  villages 
ou  this  elevated  part  of  the  mountains  were 


218        VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


scattered  and  poor,  and  nearly  destitute  of  pro- 
visions. They  held  no  communication  with  each 
other;  each  contenting  itself  with  the  scanty 
produce  of  its  own  fields  and  forest.  Some  were 
entirely  deserted ;  at  other  places,  the  inhabitants, 
forced  from  their  retreats,  implored  pardon,  and 
declared  they  had  hidden  themselves  through 
shame,  not  having  the  means  of  properly  enter- 
taining such  celestial  visitors.  They  brought 
peace-oiFerings  of  gold,  but  no  provisions.  For 
once  the  Spaniards  found  that  even  their  darling 
gold  could  fail  to  cheer  their  drooping  spirits. 
Their  sufferings  from  hunger  became  intense,  and 
many  of  their  Indian  companions  sank  down  and 
perished  by  the  way.  At  length  they  reached  a 
village  where  they  were  enabled  to  obtain 
supplies,  and  where  they  remained  tliirty  days,  to 
recruit  their  wasted  strength. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ENTERPRISE  AGAINST  TUB  AN  AM  A  THE  WARLIKE  CACIQUH 
OF  THE  MOUNTAINS.  —  RETURN  TO  DARIEN. 

The  Spaniards  had  now  to  pass  through  tho 
territories  of  Tubanama,  the  most  potent  and 
warlike  cacique  of  the  mountains.  This  was  the 
same  chieftain  of  whom  a  formidable  character 
had  been  given  by  the  young  Indian  prince,  who 
first  informed  Vasco  Nunez  of  the  southern  sea. 
He  had  erron  ^-ously  represented  the  dominions  of 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  219 

Tubanama  as  lying  beyond  the  mountains ;  and, 
while  he  dwelt  upon  the  quantities  of  gold  to  bo 
found  in  them,  had  magnified  the  dangers  of  any 
attempt  to  pass  their  borders.  The  name  of  this 
redoubtable  cacique  was  in  fact  a  terror  through- 
out the  country ;  and  when  Vasco  Nunez  looked 
rouud  upon  his  handful  of  pale  and  emaciated 
followers,  he  doubted  whether  even  the  supe- 
riority of  their  weapons,  and  their  military  skill, 
would  enable  them  to  cope  with  Tubanama  and 
his  armies  in  open  contest.  He  resolved,  there- 
fore, upon  a  perilous  stratagem.  When  he  made 
it  known  to  his  men,  every  one  pressed  forward 
to  engage  in  it.  Choosing  seventy  of  the  most 
vigorous,  he  ordered  the  rest  to  maintain  their 
post  in  the  village. 

As  soon  as  night  had  fallen,  he  departed 
secretly  with  his  chosen  band,  and  made  his  way 
with  such  rapidity  through  the  forests  and  defiles 
of  the  mountains,  that  he  arrived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  residence  of  Tubanama  by  the  follow- 
ing evening,  though  at  the  distance  of  two  regular 
days'  journey. 

There  waiting  until  midnight,  he  assailed  the 
village  suddenly,  and  captured  the  cacique  and 
liis  whole  family,  in  which  were  eighty  females. 
Tubanama  lost  all  presence  of  mind,  and  wept 
bitterly.  The  Indian  allies,  beholding  their  once 
dreaded  enemy  thus  fallen  and  captive,  urged 
chat  he  should  be  put  to  death,  accusing  him  of 
s^arious  crimes  and  cruelties.  Yasco  Nunez  pre- 
tended to  listen  to  their  prayers,  and  gave  orders 
that  his  captive  should  be  tied  hand  and  foot  and 


2-20       VOYAUES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


given  to  the  dogs.  The  cacique  approached  him 
trembling,  and  laid  his  hand  upon  the  pommel  of 
his  sword.  "  Who  can  pretend,"  said  he,  "  to 
strive  with  one  who  bears  this  weapon,  which 
can  cleave  a  man  asunder  with  a  blow  ?  Ever 
since  thy  fame  has  reached  among  these  moun- 
tains have  I  reverenced  thy  valor.  Spare  my 
life,  and  thou  shalt  have  all  the  gold  I  can  pro- 
cure." 

Vasco  Nunez,  whose  anger  was  assumed,  was 
readily  pacified.  As  soon  as  the  day  dawned,  the 
cacique  gave  him  armlets  and  other  jewels  of 
gold  to  the  value  of  three  thousand  crowns,  and 
sent  messengers  throughout  his  dominions  order- 
ing his  subjects  to  aid  in  paying  his  ransom.  The 
poor  Indians,  with  their  accustomed  loyalty,  has- 
tened in  crowds,  bringing  their  golden  ornaments, 
until  in  the  course  of  three  days  they  had  pro- 
duced an  amount  equal  to  six  thousand  crowns. 
This  done,  Vasco  Nunez  set  the  cacique  at  liber- 
ty, bestowing  on  him  several  European  trinkets, 
with  which  he  considered  himself  richer  than  he 
had  been  with  all  his  gold.  Nothing  would  draw 
from  him,  however,  the  disclosure  of  the  mines 
whence  tliis  treasure  was  procured.  He  declared 
that  it  came  from  the  territories  of  his  neighbors, 
where  gold  and  pearls  were  to  be  found  m  abun- 
lance  ;  but  that  his  lands  produced  nothing  of 
the  kind.  Vasco  Nuiiez  doubted  his  sincerity, 
and  secretly  caused  the  brooks  and  rivers  in  his 
dominions  to  be  searched,  where  gold  was  found 
in  such  quantities,  that  he  determined,  at  a  future 
:iime,  to  found  two  settlements  in  the  neigh  bor- 
Bood. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  221 

On  parting  with  Tubanama,  the  cacique  sent 
his  son  wi'ii  the  Spaniards,  to  learn  their  lan- 
guage and  religion.  It  is  said,  also,  that  the 
Spaniards  carried  off  his  eighty  women  ;  but  of 
this  particular  fact  Ovdedo,  who  writes  with  the 
papers  of  Vasco  Nunez  before  him,  says  nothing. 
He  affirms,  generally,  however,  that  the  Span- 
iards, throughout  tliis  expedition,  were  not  scru- 
pulous in  their  dealings  with  the  wives  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  Indians ;  and  adds,  that  in  tliis  their 
commander  set  them  the  example.^ 

Havuig  returned  to  the  village  where  he  had 
left  the  greater  part  of  his  men,  Yasco  Nunez  re- 
sumed his  homeward  march.  His  people  were 
feeble  and  exhausted,  and  several  of  them  sick ; 
so  that  some  had  to  be  carried  and  others  led  by 
the  arms.  He  himself  was  part  of  the  time  af- 
flicted by  a  fever,  and  had  to  be  borne  in  a  ham- 
mock on  the  shoulders  of  the  Indians. 

Proceeding  thus  slowly  and  toilfully,  they  at 
length  arrived  on  the  northern  sea-coast,  at  the 
territories  of  their  ally,  Comagre.  The  old  ca- 
cique was  dead,  and  had  been  succeeded  by  his 
son,  the  same  intelligent  youth  who  had  first  given 
information  of  the  southern  sea  and  the  kingdom 
of  Peru.  The  young  chief,  who  had  embraced 
Christianity,  received  them  with  great  hospitality, 
making  them  presents .  of  gold.  Vasco  Nunez 
gave  him  trinkets  in  return,  and  a  shirt  and  a 
soldier's  cloak ;  with  which,  says  Peter  Martyr, 
he  thought  himself  half  a  god  among  his  naked 
-countrymen.  After  having  reposed  for  a  few 
A  Oviedo,  Hist.  Gen.  Part.  II.  cap.  4,  MS. 


222       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

days,  Vasco  Nunez  proceeded  to  Ponca,  where  he 
heard  that  a  ship  and  caravel  had  arrived  at  Da- 
rien  from  Hispaniola,  vrith  reinforcements  and  sup- 
plies. Hastening,  therefore,  to  Cojba,  the  terri- 
tories of  his  ally,  Careta,  he  embarked  on  the  18th 
of  January,  1514,  with  twenty  of  his  men,  in  the 
brigantine  which  he  had  left  there,  and  arrived  at 
Santa  Maria  de  la  Antigua,  in  the  river  of  Da- 
rien,  on  the  following  day.  All  the  inhabitants 
came  forth  to  receive  him ;  and  when  they  heard 
the  news  of  the  great  southern  sea,  and  of  his  re- 
turning from  its  shores  laden  with  pearls  and  gold, 
there  were  no  bounds  to  their  joy.  He  imme- 
diately despatched  the  ship  and  caravel  to  Coyba 
for  the  companions  left  behind,  who  brought 
with  them  the  remaining  booty,  consisting  of  gold 
and  pearls,  mantles,  hammocks,  and  other  articles 
of  cotton,  and  a  great  number  of  captives  of  both 
sexes.  A  fifth  of  the  spoil  was  set  apart  for  the 
crown  ;  the  rest  was  shared,  in  just  proportions, 
among  those  who  had  been  in  the  expedition,  and 
those  who  had  remained  at  Darien.  All  were 
contented  with  their  allotment,  and  elated  with 
the  prospect  of  still  greater  gain  from  future  en- 
terprises. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  remarkable  expe- 
iitions  of  the  early  discoverers.  The  intrepidity 
>f  Vasco  Nunez  in  penetrating,  with  a  handful 
)f  men,  far  into  the  interior  of  a  wild  and  moun- 
vainous  country  peopled  by  warlike  tribes  ;  his 
skill  in  managing  his  band  of  rough  adventurers, 
stimulating  their  valor,  enforcing  their  obedience, 
and  attaching  their  affections,  show  him  to  have 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLLMBUS.  223 

possessed  great  qualities  as  a  genei'al.  We  are 
told  that  lie  was  always  foremost  in  peril,  and  the 
last  to  quit  the  field.  He  shared  the  toils  and 
dangers  of  the  meanest  of  his  followers,  treating 
them  with  frank  affability;  watching,  fighting, 
fasting;  and  laboring  with  them  ;  visiting  and  con- 
soling such  as  were  sick  or  infirm,  and  dividing 
all  his  gains  with  fairness  and  liberality.  He  was 
chargeable  at  times  with  acts  of  bloodshed  and 
injustice,  but  it  is  probable  that  these  were  often 
called  for  as  measures  of  safety  and  precaution  ; 
he  certainly  offended  less  against  humanity  than 
most  of  the  early  discoverers  ;  and  the  unbounded 
amity  and  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  na- 
tives, when  they  became  intimately  acquainted 
with  his  character,  speak  strongly  in  favor  of 
his  kind  treatment  of  them. 

The  character  of  Yasco  Nunez  had,  in  fact, 
risen  with  his  circumstances,  and  now  assumed  a 
nobleness  and  grandeur  from  the  discovery  he  had 
made,  and  the  important  charge  it  had  devolved 
upon  him.  He  no  longer  felt  himself  a  mere 
boldier  of  fortune,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  ad- 
venturers, but  a  great  commander  conducting  an 
hnmortal  enterprise.  "Behold,"  says  old  Peter 
Martyr,  "  Yasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  at  once  trans- 
formed from  a  rash  royster  to  a  politic  and  dis- 
creet captain  :  "  and  thus  it  is  that  men  are  often 
made  by  their  fortunes  ;  that  is  to .  say,  their  la- 
tent qualities  are  brought  out,  and  shaped  and 
strengthened  by  events,  and  by  the  necessity  of 
every  exertioii  to  cope  with  the  greatness  of  their 
destiny. 


22  4       VOYAGIS  AND  I)[iSC OVERIES  OF 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TRANSACTIONS  IN  SPAIN.  —  PEDRARIAS  DA  VILA  AP 
POINTED  TO  THE  COMMAND  OF  DARIEN.  —  TIDINGS  RE- 
CEIVED IN  SPAIN  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  PACIFIC 
OCEAN. 

Yasco  NuN^iz  DE  Balboa  now  flattered  him- 
self that  he  had  made  a  discovery  calculated  to 
silence  all  liis  enemies  at  court,  and  to  elevate 
him  to  the  highest  favor  with  his  sovereign.  He 
wrote  letters  to  the  king,  giving  a  detail  of  his 
expedition,  and  settmg  forth  all  that  he  had  seen 
or  heard  of  this  southern  sea,  and  of  the  rich 
countries  upon  its  borders.  Beside  the  royal  fifths 
of  the  profits  of  the  expedition,  he  prepared  a 
present  for  the  sovereign,  in  the  name  of  himself 
and  his  companions,  consisting  of  the  largest  and 
most  precious  pearls  they  had  collected.  As  a 
trusty  and  intelligent  envoy  to  bear  these  tidings, 
he  chose  Pedro  de  Arbolancha,  an  old  and  tried 
friend,  who  had  accompanied  him  in  his  toils  and 
dangers,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  all  his 
transactions. 

The  fate  of  Vasco  Nunez  furnishes  a  striking 
instance  how  prosperity  and  adversity,  how  even 
life  and  death,  hang  balanced  upon  a  point  of 
time,  and  are  affected  by  the  improvement  or  neg- 
lect of  moments.  Unfortunately  the  ship  which 
was  to  convey  the  messenger  to  Spain  lingered  in 
port  until  the  beginning  of  March  ;  a  delay  which 
had  a  fatal  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  Va&co 
Nunez.    It  is  necessary  here  to  cast  an  eye  back 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  225 


upon  the  events  which  had  taken  place  in  Spain 
while  he  was  employed  in  his  conquests  and  dis- 
coveries. 

The  Bachelor  Enciso  had  arrived  in  Castilo 
fiill  of  his  wrongs  and  indignities.  He  had  friends 
at  court,  who  aided  him  in  gaining  a  ready  hear- 
ing, and  he  lost  not  a  moment  in  availing  himself 
of  it.  He  declaimed  eloquently  upon  the  alleged 
usurpation  of  Vasco  Nunez,  and  represented  him 
as  governing  the  colony  by  force  and  fraud.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  alcalde  Zamudio,  the  ancient 
colleague  and  the  envoy  of  Vasco  Nunez,  at- 
tempted to  speak  in  his  defense  ;  he  was  unable 
to  cope  with  the  facts  and  arguments  of  the  Bach- 
elor, who  was  a  pleader  by  profession,  and  now 
pleaded  his  own  cause.  The  king  determined  to 
send  a  new  governor  to  Darien,  with  power  to 
inquire  into  and  remedy  all  abuses.  For  this  of- 
fice he  chose  Don  Pedro  Arias  Davila,  commonly 
called  Pedrarias.^  He  was  a  native  of  Segovia, 
who  had  been  brought  up  in  the  royal  household, 
and  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  brave  soldier, 
both  m  the  war  of  Granada  and  at  the  takino^  of 
Oran  and  Bugia  in  Africa.  He  possessed  those 
personal  accomplishments  which  captivate  the  sol- 
diery, and  was  called  el  Golan ^  for  his  gallant  ar- 
ray and  courtly  demeanor,  and  el  Justador,  or  the 
Tilter^  for  his  dexterity  in  jousts  and  tournaments. 
These,  it  must  be  admitted,  were  not  the  qualifi- 
cations most  adapted  for  the  government  of  rude 
and  fractious  colonies  in  a  wilderness  ;  but  he  had 

1  By  the  English  historians  he  has  generally  been  called 
Davila. 

VOL.  III.  15 


226 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERJES  OF 


an  all-powerful  friend  in  the  Bishop  FoiiSeca. 
The  bishop  was  as  thoroughgoing  in  patronage  as 
in  persecution.  He  assured  the  king  that  Pedra- 
rias  had  understanding  equal  to  his  valor ;  that  he 
was  as  capable  of  managing  the  affairs  of  peace 
as  of  war,  and  that,  having  been  brought  up  in 
the  royal  household,  his  loyalty  might  be  im2)licitlj 
relied  on. 

Scarcely  had  Don  Pedrarias  been  appointed 
when  Cayzedo  and  Colmenares  arrived  on  their 
mission  from  Darien,  to  communicate  the  intelli- 
gence received  from  the  son  of  the  cacique  Coma- 
gre,  of  the  southern  sea  beyond  the  mountains, 
and  to  ask  one  thousand  men  to  enable  Yasco 
Nunez  to  make  the  discovery. 

The  avarice  and  ambition  of  Ferdinand  were 
inflamed  by  the  tidings.  He  rewarded  the  bear- 
ers of  the  intelligence,  and,  after  consulting  with 
Bishop  Fonseca,  resolved  to  despatch  immediately 
a  powerful  armada,  with  twelve  hundred  men, 
under  the  command  of  Pedrarias,  to  accomplish 
the  enterprise. 

Just  about  this  time  the  famous  Gonsalvo  Her- 
nandez de  Cordova,  commonly  called  the  Great 
Captain,  was  preparing  to  return  to  Naples,  where 
tlie  allies  of  Spain  had  experienced  a  signal  defeat, 
and  had  craved  the  assistance  of  this  renowned 
general  to  retrieve  their  fortunes.  The  chivalry 
of  Spain  thronged  to  enlist  under  the  banner  of 
Gonsalvo.  The  Spanish  nobles,  with  their  accus' 
tomed  prodigality,  sold  or  mortgaged  their  estates 
to  buy  gorgeous  aimor,  silks,  brocades,  and  ether 
articles  of  martial  pomp  and  luxury,  that  thej 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  227 

might  figure,  with  becoming  magnificence,  in  the 
campaigns  of  Italy.  The  armament  was  on  the 
point  of  sailing  for  Naples  with  this  host  of  proud 
and  gallant  spirits,  when  the  jealous  mind  of 
Ferdinand  took  offense  at  the  enthusiasm  thus 
shown  towards  his  general,  and  he  abruptly  coun- 
termanded the  expedition.  The  Spanish  cavaliers 
were  overwhelmed  with  disappointment  at  having 
their  dreams  of  glory  thus  suddenly  dispelled ; 
when,  as  if  to  console  them,  the  enterprise  of  Pe- 
drarias  was  set  on  foot,  and  opened  a  different 
career  of  adventure.  The  very  idea  of  an  un- 
known sea  and  splendid  empire,  where  never 
European  ship  had  sailed  nor  foot  had  trodden, 
broke  upon  the  imagination  with  the  vague  won- 
ders of  an  Arabian  tale.  Even  the  countries 
already  known,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  settlement 
of  Darien,  were  described  in  the  usual  terms  of 
exaggeration.  Gold  was  said  to  lie  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  or  to  be  gathered  with  nets  out 
of  the  brooks  and  rivers ;  insomuch  that  the  re- 
gion hitherto  called  Terra  Firma,  now  received 
the  pompous  and  delusive  appellation  of  Castilla 
del  Oro,  or  Golden  Castile. 

Excited  by  these  reports,  many  of  the  youtliful 
cavahers,  who  had  prepared  for  the  Italian  cam- 
paign, now  offered  themselves  as  volunteers  to 
'Don  Pedrarias.  He  accepted  their  services,  and 
appointed  Seville  as  the  place  of  assemblage. 
The  streets  of  that  ancient  city  soon  swarmed 
with  young  and  noble  cavaliers  splendidly  arrayed, 
fidl  of  spirits,  and  eager  for  the  sailing  of  the  In- 
iiau  armada.    Pedrarias,  on  his  arrival  at  Seville, 


228       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


made  a  general  review  of  his  forces,  and  was  em« 
barrassed  to  find  that  the  number  amounted  to 
three  thousand.  He  had  been  limited  in  his  first 
armament  to  twelve  hundred ;  on  representing 
the  nature  of  the  case,  however,  the  number  was 
extended  to  fifteen  hundred ;  but  through  in- 
tiuence,  entreaty,  and  stratagem,  upwards  of  two 
thousand  eventually  embarked.^  Happy  did  he 
think  himself  who  could  in  any  manner,  and  by 
any  means,  get  admitted  on  board  of  the  squadron. 
Nor  was  this  eagerness  for  the  enterprise  confined 
merely  to  young  and  buoyant  and  ambitious  ad- 
venturers ;  we  are  told  that  there  were  many  cov- 
etous old  men,  who  offered  to  go  at  their  own 
expense,  without  seeking  any  pay  from  the  king. 
Thus  every  eye  was  turned  with  desire  to  this 
squadron  of  modern  argonauts,  as  it  lay  anchored 
on  the  bosom  of  the  Guadalquiver. 

The  pay  and  appointments  of  Don  Pedrarias 
Davila  were  on  the  most  liberal  scale,  and  no  ex- 
pense was  spared  in  fitting  out  the  armament ; 
for  the  objects  of  the  expedition  were  both  colon- 
ization and  conquest.  Artillery  and  powder  were 
procured  from  Malaga.  Beside  the  usual  weap- 
ons, such  as  muskets,  cross-bows,  swords,  pikes, 
lances,  and  Neapolitan  targets,  there  was  armor 
devised  of  quilted  cotton,  as  being  light  and  better 
adapted  to  the  climate,  and  sufiiciently  proof 
against  the  weapons  of  the  Indians  ;  and  wooden 
bucklers  from  the  Canary  Islands,  to  ward  off  the 
poisoned  arrows  of  the  Caribs. 

Santa  Maria  de  la  Antigua  was,  by  royal  ordi 
1  Ovicdo,  lib.  ii.  cap.  7,  MS. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  229 


nance,  elevated  into  the  metropolitan  city  of 
Golden  Castile,  and  a  Franciscan  friar,  named 
Juan  de  Quevedo,  was  appointed  as  bishop,  with 
powers  to  decide  in  all  cases  of  conscience.  A 
number  of  friars  were  nominated  to  accompany 
him,  and  he  was  provided  with  the  necessary  fur- 
niture and  vessels  for  a  chapel. 

Among  the  various  regulations  made  for  the 
good  of  the  infant  colony,  it  was  ordained  that 
no  lawyers  should  be  admitted  there,  it  having 
been  found  at  Hispaniola  and  elsewhere,  that  they 
were  detrimental  to  the  welfare  of  the  settlements, 
by  fomenting  disputes  and  litigations.  The  judi- 
cial affairs  were  to  be  entirely  confided  to  the  li- 
centiate Gaspar  de  Espinosa,  who  was  to  officiate 
as  alcalde  mayor  or  chief  judge. 

Don  Pedrarias  had  intended  to  leave  his  wife 
in  Spain.  Her  name  was  Dona  Isabella  de 
Bobadilla ;  she  was  niece  to  the  Marchioness  de 
Moya,  a  great  favorite  of  the  late  Queen  Isabella, 
who  had  been  instrumental  in  persuading  her 
royal  mistress  to  patronize  Columbus.^  Her 
niece  partook  of  her  high  and  generous  nature. 
She  refused  to  remain  behind  in  selfish  security, 
but  declared  that  she  would  accompany  her  hus- 
band in  every  peril,  whether  by  sea  or  land. 
This  self-devotion  is  the  more  remarkable,  when 
it  is  considered  that  she  was  past  the  romantic 

1  This  was  the  same  Marchioness  de  Moya,  who,  during 
••he  war  of  Granada,  while  tlie  court  and  royal  army  were 
encamped  before  Malaga,  was  mistaken  for  the  queen  by  a 
3loorish  fanatic,  and  had  nearly  fallen  beneath  his  dagger. 


230       VOrAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

period  of  youth  ;  and  that  she  left  behind  her  in 
Spain,  a  family  of  four  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Don  Pedi'arias  was  instructed  to  use  great  in- 
dulgence  towards  the  people  of  Darien,  who  had 
been  the  followers  of  Nicuesa,  and  to  remit  the 
royal  tithe  of  all  the  gold  they  might  have  col- 
lected previous  to  his  arrival.  Towards  Vasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa  alone  the  royal  countenance 
was  stern  and  severe.  Pedrarias  was  to  depose 
him  from  his  assumed  authority,  and  to  call  him 
to  strict  account  before  the  alcalde  mayor,  Gas- 
par  de  Espinosa,  for  his  treatment  of  the  Bach- 
elor Enciso. 

The  splendid  fleet,  consisting  of  fifteen  sail, 
weighed  anchor  at  St.  Lucar  on  the  12th  of 
April,  1514,  and  swept  proudly  out  of  the  Gua- 
dalquiver,  thronged  with  chivalrous  adventurers 
for  Golden  Castile.  But  a  short  time  had  elapsed 
after  its  departure,  when  Pedro  Arbolancho  ar- 
rived with  the  tardy  mission  of  Yasco  Nunez. 
Had  he  arrived  a  few  days  sooner,  how  different 
might  have  been  the  fortune  of  his  friend  ! 

He  was  immediately  admitted  to  the  royal 
presence,  where  he  announced  the  adventurous 
and  successful  expedition  of  Vasco  Nuiiez,  and 
laid  before  the  king  the  pearls  and  golden  orna- 
ments brouo^ht  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  discov- 
cry.  King  Ferdinand  listened  with  charmed 
attention  to  this  tale  of  unknown  seas  and 
wealthy  realms  added  to  his  empire.  It  filled,  in 
fact,  the  imagination  of  the  most  sage  and  learned 
with  golden  dreams,  and  anticipations  of  un- 
bounded riches.    Old  Peter  Martyr,  who  re- 


THE  COMPANIONS  CF  COLUMBUS.  231 


ceivcd  letters  fi'om  his  friends  in  Darien,  and 
communicated  by  word  of  mouth  with  those  who 
came  from  thence,  writes  to  Leo  the  Tenth  in 
exulting  terms  of  this  event.  "  Spain,"  says  he, 
"  will  hereafter  be  able  to  satisfy  with  pearls  the 
greedy  appetite  of  such  a^  in  wanton  pleasures 
are  like  unto  Cleopatra  and  ^sopus ;  so  that 
henceforth  we  shall  neither  envy  nor  reverence 
the  nice  fruitfulness  of  Trapoban  or  the  Red 
Sea.  The  Spaniards  will  not  need  hereafter  to 
mine  and  dig  far  into  the  earth,  nor  to  cut 
asunder  mountains  in  quest  of  gold,  but  will 
find  it  plentifully,  in  a  manner,  on  the  upper 
crust  of  the  earth,  or  in  the  sands  of  rivers  dried 
up  by  the  heats  of  summer.  Certainly  the  rev- 
erend antiquity  obtained  not  so  great  a  benefit 
of  nature,  nor  even  aspired  to  the  knowledge 
thereof,  since  never  man  before,  from  the  known 
world,  penetrated  to  these  unknown  regions."  ^ 

The  tidings  of  this  discovery  made  all  Spain 
resound  with  the  praises  of  Vasco  Nunez ;  and, 
from  being  considered  a  lawless  and  desperate 
adventurer,  he  was  lauded  to  the  skies  as  a 
worthy  successor  to  Columbus.  The  king  re- 
pented of  the  harshness  of  his  late  measures 
towards  him,  and  ordered  the  Bishop  Fonseca 
to  devise  some  mode  of  rewarding  his  transceii* 
dent  services. 

*  P.  Martyr,  decad.  3,  chap.  iii.   Lok's  translation. 


232 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

illRIVAL  AND  GRAND  ENTRY  OF  DON  PEDRARIAS  DAVILA 

INTO  DARIEN. 

While  honors  and  i-ewards  were  preparing 
in  Europe  for  Yasco  Nunez,  that  indefatigable 
commander,  inspired  by  his  fortunes  with  re- 
doubled zeal  and  loftier  ambition,  was  exercising 
the  paternal  forethought  and  discretion  of  a  patri- 
otic governor  over  the  country  subjected  to  his 
rule.  His  most  strenuous  exertions  were  di- 
rected to  bring  the  neighborhood  of  Darien  into 
such  a  state  of  cultivation,  as  might  render  the 
settlement  independent  of  Europe  for  supplies. 
The  town  was  situated  on  the  banks  of  a  river, 
and  contained  upwards  of  two  hundred  houses 
and  cabins.  Its  population  amounted  to  five 
hundred  and  fifteen  Europeans,  all  men,  and  fif- 
teen hundred  Indians,  male  and  female.  Or- 
chards and  gardens  had  been  laid  out,  where 
European  as  well  as  native  fruits  and  vegetables 
were  cultivated,  and  already  gave  promise  of 
future  abundance.  Yasco  Nunez  devised  all 
kinds  of  means  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  his  peo- 
ple. On  holidays  they  had  their  favorite  national 
sports  and  games,  and  particularly  tilting  matches^ 
of  which  chivalrous  amusement  the  Spaniards  in 
those  days  were  extravagantly  fond.  Sometimes 
he  gratified  their  restless  and  roving  habits  by 
Bending  them  on  expeditions  to  various  parts 
of  the  country,  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  its  re- 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  233 


sources,  and  to  strengtlien  his  sway  over  the  na- 
tives. He  was  so  successful  in  securing  the 
amity,  or  exciting  the  awe  of  the  Indian  tribes, 
that  a  Spaniard  might  go  singly  about  the  land 
in  perfect  safety ;  while  his  own  followers  were 
zealous  in  their  devotion  to  him,  both  from  ad- 
miration of  his  past  exploits  and  from  hopes  of 
soon  being  led  by  him  to  new  discoveries  and 
conquests.  Peter  Martyr,  in  his  lettei  to  Leo 
the  Tenth,  speaks  in  high  terms  of  these  "old 
soldiers  of  Darien,"  the  remnants  of  those  well- 
tried  adventurers  who  had  followed  the  fortunes 
of  Ojeda,  Nicuesa,  and  Yasco  Nunez.  "  They 
were  hardened,"  says  he,  "  to  abide  all  soirows, 
and  were  exceedingly  tolerant  of  labor,  heat, 
hunger,  and  watching,  insomuch  that  they  mer- 
rily make  their  boast  that  they  have  observed  a 
longer  and  sharper  Lent  than  even  your  Holi- 
ness enjoined,  since,  for  the  space  of  four  years, 
their  food  has  been  herbs  and  fruits,  with  now 
and  then  fish,  and  very  seldom  flesh."  ^ 

Such  were  the  hardy  and  well-seasoned  vet- 
erans that  were  under  the  sway  of  Vasco  Nuiiez  ; 
and  the  colony  gave  signs  of  rising  in  prosperity 
under  his  active  and  fostering  management, 
when,  in  the  month  of  June,  the  fleet  of  Don 
J^edrarias  Davila  arrived  in  the  Gulf  of  Uraba. 

The  Spanish  cavaliers  who  accompanied  the 
Lew  governor  were  eager  to  get  on  shore,  and  to 
behold  the  anticipated  wonders  of  the  land ;  but 
Pedrarias,  knowing  the  resolute  character  of 
Vas^-o  Nunez,  and  the  devotion  of  liis  followers, 
1  P.  Mar/yr,  decad.  3,  cap.  iii.    Lok's  translation. 


23^       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

appi'cnendecl  some  difficulty  in  getting  possession 
of  tiie  colony.  Anchoring,  therefore,  about  a 
league  and  a  half  from  the  settlement,  he  sent  a 
messeao:(>:  on  shore  to  announce  his  arrival. 
The  envoy,  having  heard  so  much  in  Spain  of 
the  prowess  and  exploits  of  Vasco  Nunez,  and 
the  riches  of  Golden  Castile,  expected,  no  doubt, 
to  find  a  blustering  warrior,  maintaining  barbaric 
state  in  the  government  which  he  had  usurped. 
Great  was  his  astonishment,  therefore,  to  find 
this  redoubtable  hero  a  plain,  unassuming  man, 
clad  m  a  cotton  frock  and  drawers,  and  hempen 
sandals,  directing  and  aiding  the  labor  of  several 
Indians  who  were  thatchmg  a  cottage  in  which 
he  resided. 

The  messenger  approached  him  respectfully, 
and  announced  the  arrival  of  Don  Pedrarias 
Davila  as  governor  of  the  country. 

Whatever  Yasco  Nunez  may  have  felt  at  this 
intelligence,  he  suppressed  his  emotions,  and 
answered  the  messenger  with  great  discretion ; 
"  Tell  Don  Pedrarias  Davila,"  said  he,  "  that  he 
is  welcome,  and  I  congratulate  him  on  his  safe 
arrival,  and  am  ready,  with  all  who  are  here,  to 
obey  his  orders." 

The  little  community  of  rough  and  daring 
adventurers  was  in  an  uproar  when  they  found  a 
new  governor  had  arrived.  Some  of  the  most 
zealous  adherents  of  Vasco  Nunez  were  dis- 
posed to  sally  forth,  sword  in  hand,  and  repel  the 
intruder ;  b^t  they  were  restramed  by  their  more 
considerate  cliieftam,  who  prepared  to  receive  the 
new  governor  with  all  due  submission. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  235 

Pedrarias  disembarked  on  tlie  thirtieth  of  June, 
accompanied  by  his  heroic  wife,  Dona  Isabella ; 
who,  according  to  old  Peter  Martyr,  had  sus- 
tained the  roarings  and  rages  of  the  ocean  with 
no  less  stout  courage  than  either  her  husband  or 
the  mariners  who  had  been  brought  up  among 
the  surges  of  the  sea. 

Pedrarias  set  out  for  the  embryo  city  at  the 
head  of  two  thousand  men,  all  well  armed.  He 
led  his  wife  by  the  hand,  and  on  the  other  side 
of  him  was  the  Bishop  of  Darien  in  his  robes ; 
while  a  brilliant  train  of  youthful  cavaliers,  in 
glittering  armor  and  brocade,  formed  a  kind  of 
body-guard. 

All  this  pomp  and  splendor  formed  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  humble  state  of  Yasco  Nunez, 
who  came  forth  unarmed,  in  simple  attire,  accom- 
panied by  his  counsellors  and  a  handful  of  the 
"  old  soldiers  of  Darien,"  scarred  and  battered, 
and  grown  half  wild  in  Indian  warfare,  but  with- 
out weapons,  and  in  garments  much  the  worse 
for  wear. 

Yasco  Nunez  saluted  Don  Pedrarias  Davila, 
with  profound  reverence,  and  promised  him  im- 
pHcit  obedience,  both  m  his  own  name  and  in  the 
name  of  the  community.  Having  entered  the 
town,  he  conducted  his  distinguished  guests  to  his 
straw-thatched  habitation,  where  he  had  caused  a 
repast  to  be  prepared  of  such  cheer  as  his  means 
afforded,  consisting  of  roots  and  fruits,  maize  and 
cassava  bread,  with  no  other  beverage  thaii  water 
from  the  river ;  —  a  sorry  palace  and  a  meagre 
banquet  in  the  eyes  of  the  gay  cavaliers,  who  had 


236       VOVAGES  AND  BISCOVER/ES  OF 


anticipated  far  other  things  from  the  usurper  oi 
Golden  Castile.  Vasco  Nunez,  however,  ac- 
quitted himself  m  his  humble  wigwam  with  the 
courtesy  and  hospitality  of  a  prince,  and  showed 
that  the  dignity  of  an  entertainment  depends 
more  upon  the  giver  than  the  feast.  In  the 
mean  time  a  plentiful  supply  of  European  pro- 
visions was  landed  from  the  fleet,  and  a  tempo- 
rary abundance  was  dilFused  through  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PERFIDIOUS  CONDUCT  OF  DON  PEDRARIAS  TOWARDS  VASCO 
NUNEZ. 

On  the  day  after  his  entrance  into  Darien, 
Don  Pedrarias  held  a  private  conference  with 
Vasco  Nunez  in  presence  of  the  historian  Oviedo, 
who  had  come  out  from  Spain  as  public  notary 
of  the  colony.  The  governor  commenced  by 
assuring  him  that  he  was  instructed  by  the  king 
to  treat  him  with  great  favor  and  distinction,  to 
consult  him  about  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  and 
to  apply  to  him  for  information  relative  to  the 
surrounding  country.  At  the  same  time  he 
professed  the  most  amicable  feelings  on  his  own 
part,  and  an  intention  to  be  guided  by  his 
counsels  in  all  public  measures. 

Vasco  Nunez  was  of  a  frank,  confiding  nature, 
and  was  so  captivated  by  this  unexpected 
courtesy  and  kindness,  that  he  threw  off  aU 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  237 

caution  and  reserve,  and  opened  his  whole  soil) 
to  the  politic  courtier.  Pedrarias  availed  himself 
of  tliis  communicative  mood  to  draw  from  him  a 
mmute  and  able  statement  in  writing,  detailing 
the  circumstances  of  the  colony,  and  the  infor- 
mation collected  respecting  various  parts  of  the 
country;  the  route  by  which  he  had  traversed 
tlie  mountains ;  his  discovery  of  the  South  Sea ; 
the  situation  and  reputed  wealth  of  the  Pearl 
Islands  ;  the  rivers  and  ravines  most  productive 
of  gold ;  together  with  the  names  and  territories 
of  the  various  caciques  with  whom  he  had  made 
treaties. 

When  Pedrarias  had  thus  beguiled  the  unsus- 
pectmg  soldier  of  all  the  information  necessary 
for  his  purposes,  he  dropped  the  mask,  and  with- 
in a  few  days  proclaimed  a  judicial  scrutiny  into 
the  conduct  of  Vasco  Nunez  and  his  officers.  It 
was  to  be  conducted  by  the  licentiate  Gaspar  de 
Espinosa,  who  had  come  as  alcalde  mayor,  or 
chief  judge.  The  licentiate  was  an  inexperi- 
enced lawyer,  having  but  recently  left  the  univer-. 
sity  of  Salamanca.  He  appears  to  have  been 
somewhat  flexible  in  his  opinions,  and  prone  to 
be  guided  or  governed  by  others.  At  the  outset 
of  his  career  he  was  much  under  the  influence  of 
Quevedo,  the  Bishop  of  Darien.  Now,  as  Vasco 
Nunez  knew  the  im.portance  of  this  prelate  in  tlie 
•colony,  he  had  taken  care  to  secure  him  to  his 
interests  by  paying  him  the  most  profound 
ieference  and  respect,  and  by  giving  him  a  share 
ai  his  agricultural  enterprises  and  his  schemes 
of  traffic-.    In  fact  the  good  bishop  looked  upon 


238       VOYAGES  AND  D.SCOVER.tti  OF 


him  as  one  eminently  calculated  to  promote  hia 
temporal  prosperity,  to  which  he  was  by  uo 
means  insensible.  Under  the  influence  of  the 
prelate,  therefore,  the  alcalde  commenced  his  in- 
vestigation in  the  most  favorable  manner.  He 
went  largely  into  an  examination  of  the  dis- 
coveries of  Yasco  Nunezj  and  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  his  various  services.  The  governoi 
was  alarmed  at  the  course  which  the  inquiry  was 
taking.  If  thus  conducted,  it  would  but  serve  to 
illustrate  the  merits  and  elevate  the  reputation 
of  the  man  whom  it  was  his  interest  and  intent 
to  ruin.  To  counteract  it,  he  immediately  set  on 
foot  a  secret  and  invidious  course  of  interroga- 
tories of  the  followers  of  Nicuesa  and  Ojeda,  to 
draw  from  them  testimony  which  might  support 
the  charge  against  Vasco  Nunez  of  usurpation 
and  tyrannical  abuse  of  power.  The  bishop  and 
the  alcalde  received  information  of  the  inquisition, 
carried  on  thus  secretly,  and  without  their  sanc- 
tion. They  remonstrated  warmly  against  it,  as 
an  infringement  of  their  rights,  being  coadjutors 
in  the  government ;  and  they  spurned  the  testi- 
mony of  the  followers  of  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  as 
dictated  and  discolored  by  ancient  enmity.  Vasco 
Nunez  was  therefore  acquitted  by  them  of  the 
criminal  charges  made  against  him,  though  lie 
remained  involved  in  difficulties  from  the  suits 
brought  against  him  by  individuals,  for  losses  and 
damages  occasioned  by  his  measures. 

Pedrarias  was  incensed  at  this  acquittal,  and 
insisted  upon  the  guilt  of  Vasco  Nunez,  which  he 
pretended  to  have  established  to  his  conviction  by 


rnE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  239 

his  secret  investigations ;  and  he  even  determined 
to  send  him  in  chains  to  Spain,  to  be  tried  for  the 
death  of  Nicuesa,  and  for  other  imputed  offenses 
It  was  not  the  inchnation  or  the  interest  of  the 
bishop  that  Vasco  Nunez  should  leave  the  colony ; 
he  therefore  managed  to  awaken  the  jealous  a])- 
prehensions  of  the  governor  as  to  the  effect  of 
his  proposed  measure.  He  intimated  that  the  ar- 
rival of  Vasco  Nunez  in  Spain  would  be  signalized 
by  triumph  rather  than  disgrace.  By  that  time 
his  grand  discoveries  would  be  blazoned  to  the 
world,  and  would  atone  for  all  his  faults.  He 
would  be  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  nation, 
with  favor  by  the  king,  and  would  be  probably 
sent  back  to  the  colony  clothed  with  new  dignity 
and  power. 

Pedrarias  was  placed  in  a  perplexing  dilemma 
by  these  suggestions ;  his  violent  proceedings 
against  Yasco  Nunez  were  also  in  some  measure 
restrained  by  the  influence  of  his  wife,  Dona  Is- 
abel de  Bobadilla,  who  felt  a  great  respect  and 
sympathy  for  the  discoverer.  In  his  perplexity,  the 
wily  governor  adopted  a  middle  course.  He  re- 
solved to  detain  Vasco  Nunez  at  Darien  under  a 
cloud  of  imputation,  which  would  gradually  impair 
}iis  popularity  ;  while  his  patience  and  means  would 
be  silently  consumed  by  protracted  and  expensive 
litigation.^  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  pro- 
perty which  had  been  sequestrated  was  restored 
to  him. 

While  Pedrarias  treated  Vasco  Nunez  with  thip 
severity,  he  failed  not  to  avail  liimself  of  the  plans 
of  that  able  commander.    The  first  of  these  was 


240       VOYAGES  AND  DI^COVJiRIES  OF 


to  establish  a  line  of  posts  across  the  nioun  tains 
betv/ecii  Darien  and  the  South  Sea.  It  was  liis 
eager  desire  to  execute  this  before  any  order 
should  arrive  from  the  king  in  favor  of  his  pre- 
decessor, in  order  that  he  might  have  the  credit 
of  having  colonized  the  coast,  and  Yasco  Nunez, 
merely  that  of  having  discovered  and  visited  it.^ 
Before  he  could  complete  these  arrangements, 
however,  unlooked-for  calamities  fell  upon  the 
settlement,  that  for  a  time  interrupted  every  proj- 
ect, and  made  every  one  turn  his  thoughts  merely 
to  his  own  security. 


CHAPTER  XVni. 

CALAMITIES  OF  THE  SPANISH  CAVALIERS  AT  DARIEN 

The  town  of  Darien  was  situated  in  a  deep 
\'alley,  surrounded  by  lofty  hills,  which,  while  they 
kept  off  the  breezes  so  grateful  in  a  sultry  climate, 
reflected  and  concentrated  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
insomuch,  that  at  noontide  the  heat  was  insupport- 
a])le  ;  the  river  which  passed  it  was  shallow,  with 
a  muddy  channel  and  bordered  by  marshes ;  over- 
hanging forests  added  to  the  general  humidity, 
and  the  very  soil  on  which  the  town  was  built 
was  of  such  a  nature,  that  on  digging  to  the  depth 
of  a  foot  there  would  ooze  forth  brackish  water.^ 

It  is  not  matter  of  surprise  that  a  situation  of 

1  Oviedo,  Hist.  Ind.,  page  2,  cap.  8. 
3  Peter  Martyr,  decad.  iii.  cap  6. 


TRE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  241 


tliis  kind,  in  a  tropical  climate,  should  be  fatal  to 
tlie  health  of  Europeans.  Many  who  had  recently 
arrived  were  swept  off  speedily ;  Pedrarias  liimself 
fell  sick,  and  was  removed,  with  most  of  his  peo- 
ple, to  a  healthier  spot  on  the  river  Corobari ;  the 
malady,  however,  continued  to  increase.  The 
provisions  brought  out  in  the  ships  had  been 
j)artly  damaged  by  the  sea,  the  residue  grew  scanty, 
and  the  people  were  put  upon  short  allowance ; 
the  debility  thus  produced  increased  the  ravages 
of  disease ;  at  length  the  provisions  were  ex- 
hausted, and  the  horrors  of  absolute  famine  en- 
sued. 

Every  one  was  more  or  less  affected  by  these 
calamities  ;  even  the  veterans  of  the  colony  quailed 
beneath  them ;  but  to  none  were  they  more  fatal 
than  to  the  crowd  of  youthful  cavaliers  who  had 
once  glittered  so  gayly  abont  the  streets  of  Seville, 
and  had  come  out  to  the  New  World  elated  with 
the  most  sanguine  expectations.  Erom  the  very 
moment  of  their  landing  they  had  been  disheart- 
ened at  the  savage  scenes  around  them,  and  dis- 
gusted with  the  squalid  life  they  were  doomed  to 
lead.  They  slirunk  with  disdain  from  the  labors 
with  which  alone  wealth  was  to  be  procured  in 
this  land  of  gold  and  pearls,  and  were  impatient 
of  the  humble  exertions  necessary  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  existence.  As  the  famine  increased,  their 
f^ase  became  desperate ;  for  they  were  unable  to 
help  themselves,  and  their  rank  and  dignity  com- 
manded neither  deference  nor  aid  at  a  time  when 
common  misery  made  every  one  selfish.  Many 
of  them,  who  had  mortgaged  estates  in  Spain  to 

TOL.  III.        •  16 


242        VOYAGi:S  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


fit  themselves  out  sumptuouslj  for  their  Italian 
campaign,  now  perished  for  lack  of  food.  Some 
would  be  seen  bartering  a  robe  of  crimson  silk 
or  some  garment  of  rich  brocade,  for  a  pound  of 
Indian  bread  or  European  biscuit ;  others  sought 
to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  hungei'  with  the  herba 
and  roots  of  the  fieM,  and  one  of  the  principal 
cavaliers  absolutely  expired  of  hunger  in  the  pub- 
lic streets. 

In  this  wretched  way,  and  in  the  short  space 
of  one  month,  perished  seven  hundred  of  the  little 
army  of  youthful  and  buoyant  spirits  who  had  em- 
barked with  Pedrarias.  The  bodies  of  some  re- 
mained for  a  day  or  two  without  sepulture,  their 
friends  not  having  sufficient  strength  to  bury  them. 
Unable  to  remedy  the  evil,  Pedrarias  gave  per- 
mission to  his  men  to  flee  from  it.  A  ship-load 
of  starving  adventurers  departed  for  Cuba,  where 
some  of  them  joined  the  standard  of  Diego  Velas- 
quez, who  was  colonizing  that  island ;  others  made 
their  way  back  to  Spain,  where  they  arrived 
broken  in  health,  in  spirits,  and  in  fortune. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

FRUITLESS  EXPEDITION  OF  PEDRARIAS. 

The  departure  of  so  many  hungry  mouths  was 
some  temporary  relief  to  the  colony  ;  and  Pedra- 
rias, having  recovered  from  his  malady,  bestirr<3d 
himself  to  send  expeditions  in  various  directions. 


THE  COMPANIONS   OF  COLUMBUS,  243 


for  the  purpose  of  foraging  the  country  and  col- 
lecting treasure. 

These  exj^editions,  however,  were  intrusted  to 
his  own  favorites  and  partisans ;  while  Yasco 
Nunez,  the  man  most  competent  to  carry  theiu 
into  effect,  remained  idle  and  neglected.  A  judi- 
cial mquiry,  tardily  carried  on,  overshadowed  him, 
and  though  it  substantiated  nothing,  served  to  em- 
barrass his  actions,  to  cool  his  friends,  and  to  give 
liim  the  air  of  a  public  delinquent.  Indeed,  to 
the  other  evils  of  the  colony  was  now  added  that 
of  excessive  litigation,  arising  out  of  the  disputes 
concernuig  the  government  of  Yasco  Nunez,  and 
which  increased  to  such  a  degree,  that,  according 
to  the  report  of  the  alcalde  Espinosa,  if  the  law- 
suits should  be  divided  among  the  people,  at  least 
forty  would  fall  to  each  man's  share.^  This  too 
was  in  a  colony  into  which  the  government  had 
commanded  that  no  lawyer  should  be  admitted ! 

Wearied  and  irritated  by  the  check  given  to 
his  favorite  enterprises,  and  confident  of  the  ulti- 
mate approbation  of  the  king,  Yasco  Nunez  de- 
termined to  take  his  fortunes  in  his  own  hands, 
and  to  prosecute  in  secret  his  grand  project  of 
exploring  the  regions  beyond  the  mountains. 
For  this  purpose,  he  privately  dispatched  one 
Andres  Garabito  to  Cuba  to  enlist  men,  and 
make  provisions  for  an  expedition  across  the  isth- 
aius,  from  Nombre  de  Dios,  and  for  the  founding 
ft  colony  on  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean 
whence  he  proposed  to  extend  his  discoveries  by 
sea  and  land. 

1  Herrera,  decad.  ii.  lib.  i.  cap.  1. 


214       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


While  Yasco  Nunez  awaited  the  return  of 
Garabito,  he  had  the  mortification  of  beholding 
various  of  his  colonizing  plans  pursued  and 
marred  by  Pedrarias.  Among  other  enterprises, 
the  governor  dispatched  his  lieutenant-general, 
Juan  de  Ayora,  at  the  head  of  four  hundred  men, 
to  visit  the  provinces  of  those  caciques  with  whom 
Vasco  Nunez  had  sojourned  and  made  ti  eaties  on 
his  expedition  to  the  southern  sea.  Ayora  par- 
took of  the  rash  and  domineering  spirit  of  Pedra- 
rias, and  harassed  and  devastated  the  countries 
which  he  pretended  to  explore.  He  was  received 
with  amity  and  confidence  by  various  caciques  who 
had  formed  treaties  with  Vasco  Nunez  ;  but  he 
repaid  their  hospitality  with  the  basest  ingrati- 
tude, seizing  upon  their  property,  taking  from 
them  their  wives  and  daughters,  and  often  tor- 
turing them  to  make  them  reveal  their  hidden  or 
supposed  treasures.  Among  those  treated  with 
his  perfidy,  we  grieve  to  enumerate  the  youthful 
cacique  who  first  gave  Vasco  Nunez  information 
of  the  sea  beyond  the  mountains. 

The  enormities  of  Ayora,  and  of  other  captains 
of  Pedrarias,  produced  the  usual  effect ;  the  na- 
tives were  roused  to  despei*ate  resistance ;  ca- 
ciques, who  had  been  faithful  friends,  were  con- 
verted into  furious  enemies,  and  the  expedition 
ended  in  disappointment  and  disaster. 

The  adherents  of  Vasco  Nunez  did  not  fail  to 
contrast  these  disastrous  enterprises  with  those 
which  had  been  conducted  with  so  much,  glory 
and  advantage  by  their  favorite  commander ;  and 
their  sneers  and  reproaches  had  such  an  effect 


TIIF  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBLS.  245 


upon  the  jealous  and  irritable  disposition  of  Pe** 
drarias,  that  he  determined  to  employ  their  idol 
in  service  likely  to  be  attended  with  defeat,  and 
to  impair  his  popularity.  None  seemed  more  fit- 
ting for  the  purpose  than  an  expedition  to  Do- 
bayba,  where  he  had  once  already  attempted  in 
vain  to  penetrate,  and  where  so  many  of  his  fol- 
lowers had  fallen  victims  to  the  stratagems  and 
assaults  of  the  natives. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SECOND  EXPEDITION  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ  IN  QUEST  OF  TIIB 
GOLDEN  TEMPLE  OF  DOBAYBA. 

The  rich  mines  of  Dobayba,  and  the  treasures 
of  its  golden  temple,  had  continued  a  favorite 
theme  with  the  Spanish  adventurers.  It  was 
ascertained  that  Vasco  Nunez  had  stopped  short 
of  the  wealthy  region  on  his  former  expedition, 
and  had  mistaken  a  frontier  village  for  the  resi- 
dence of  the  cacique.  The  enterprise  of  the 
temple  was,  therefore,  still  to  be  achieved  ;  and  it 
was  solicited  by  several  of  the  cavaliers  in  the 
train  of  Pedrarias,  with  all  the  chivalrous  ardor 
of  that  romantic  age.  Indeed,  common  report 
had  invested  the  enterprise  with  difficulties  and 
danger  sufficient  to  stimulate  the  ambition  of  the 
keenest  seeker  of  adventure.  The  savages  who 
inhabited  that  part  of  the  country  were  coura- 
geous and  adroit.    They  fought  by  water  as  well 


246       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


as  by  land,  forming  ambuscades  with  their  canoes 
in  the  bays  and  rivers.  The  country  was  inter^ 
sected  by  dreary  fens  and  morasses,  infested  by 
all  kinds  of  reptiles.  Clouds  of  gnats  and  mos- 
quitoes filled  the  air ;  there  were  large  bats  also, 
supposed  to  have  the  baneful  properties  of  the 
vampire ;  alligators  lurked  in  the  waters,  and  the 
gloomy  recesses  of  the  fens  were  said  to  be  the 
dens  of  dragons  !  ^ 

Beside  these  objects  of  terror,  both  true  and 
fabulous,  the  old  historian,  Peter  Martyr,  makes 
mention  of  another  monstrous  animal,  said  to  in- 
fest this  golden  region,  and  w^hich  deserves  to  be 
cited,  as  showing  the  imaginary  dangers  with 
which  the  active  minds  of  the  discoverers  peopled 
the  unexplored  wilderness  around  them. 

According  to  the  tales  of  the  Indians,  there 
had  occurred,  shortly  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards,  a  violent  tempest,  or  rather  hurricane, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Dobayba,  which  demol- 
ished houses,  tore  up  trees  by  the  roots,  and  laid 
waste  whole  forests.  When  the  tempest  had  sub- 
sided, and  the  affrighted  inhabitants  ventured  to 
look  abroad,  they  found  that  two  monstrous  ani- 
mals had  been  brought  into  the  country  by  the 
hurricane.  According  to  their  accounts  they  were 
not  unlike  the  ancient  harpies,  and  one  being 
smaller  than  the  other,  was  supposed  to  be  its 
young.  They  had  the  faces  of  women,  with  the 
claws  and  wings  of  eagles,  and  were  of  such  pjro- 
digious  size,  that  the  very  boughs  of  the  trees  on 
which  they  alighted  broke  beneath  them.  They 
1  P.  Martyr. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  247 

would  swoop  dowQ  and  carry  off  a  man  as  a 
hawk  would  bear  off  a  chicken,  flying  with  him 
to  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  where  they  would 
tear  him  in  pieces  and  devour  him.  For  some 
time  they  were  the  scourge  and  terror  of  the 
land,  until  the  Indians  succeeded  in  killing  the  old 
one  by  stratagem,  and,  hanging  her  on  their  long 
spears,  bore  her  through  all  the  towns,  to  assuage 
»;he  alarm  of  the  inhabitants.  The  younger  har- 
py, says  the  Indian  tradition,  was  never  seen  af 
terwards.^ 

Such  were  some  of  the  perils,  true  and  fabu- 
lous, with  whi^ih  the  land  of  Dobayba  was  said 
to  abound ;  and,  in  fact,  the  very  Indians  had 
such  a  dread  of  its  dark  and  dismal  morasses, 
that  in  their  journeyings  they  carefully  avoided 
them,  preferring  the  circuitous  and  rugged  paths 
of  the  mountains. 

Several  of  the  youthful  cavaliers,  as  has  been 
observed,  were  stimulated  rather  than  deterred  by 
these  dangers,  and  contended  for  the  honor  of 
the  expedition  ;  but  Pedrarias  selected  his  rival 
for  the  task,  hoping,  as  has  been  hinted,  that  it 
would  involve  him  in  disgrace.  Vasco  Nunez 
promptly  accepted  the  enterprise,  for  his  pride 
was  concerned  in  its  success.  Two  hundred  reso- 
lute men  were  given  to  him  for  the  purpose  ;  but 
his  satisfaction  was  diminished  when  he  found  that 
Luis  Carillo,  an  officer  of  Pedrarias,  who  had 
failed  in  a  perilous  enterprise,  was  associated  with 
liira  in  the  command. 

Few  particulars  remain  to  us  of .  the  events  of 
1  P.  Martyr,  decad.  vii.  cap.  10. 


^48       VOTAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

this  affair.  They  embarked  in  a  fleet  of  canoes, 
and  traversing  the  gulf,  arrived  at  the  river  which 
flowed  down  from  the  region  of  Dobayba.  They 
were  not  destined,  however,  to  achieve  the  enter- 
prise of  tlie  golden  temple.  As  they  were  pro- 
ceeding rather  confidently  and  unguardedly  up  the 
liver,  they  were  surprised  and  surrounded  by  b 
swarm  of  canoes,  filled  with  armed  savages,  wliich 
darted  out  from  lurking  places  along  the  shores. 
Some  of  the  Indians  assailed  them  with  lances, 
others  with  clouds  of  arrows,  while  some,  plunging 
into  the  water,  endeavored  to  overturn  their  ca- 
noes. In  this  way  one  half  of  the  Spaniards 
were  killed  or  drowned.  Among  the  number  fell 
Luis  Carillo,  pierced  through  the  breast  by  an 
Indian  lance.  Yasco  Nunez  himself  was  wounded, 
and  had  great  difficulty  in  escaping  to  the  shore 
with  the  residue  of  his  forces. 

The  Indians  pursued  him,  and  kept  up  a  skir- 
mishing attack,  but  he  beat  them  off  until  the 
night,  when  he  silently  abandoned  the  shore  of 
the  river,  and  directed  his  retreat  towards  Darien, 
It  is  easier  to  imagine  than  to.  describe  the  toils 
and  dangers  and  horrors  which  beset  him,  and  the 
remnant  of  his  men,  as  they  traversed  rugged 
mountains,  or  struggled  through  the  fearful  mo- 
rasses of  which  they  had  heard  such  terrific  tales. 
At  length  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  settle- 
ment of  Darien. 

The  partisans  of  Pedrarias  exulted  in  seeing 
Vasco  Nunez  return  thus  foiled  and  wounded, 
and  tamited  his  adherents  with  their  previous 
boastings.    The  latter,  however,  laid  all  the  blama 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  243 

upon  the  unfortimate  Carillo.  "  Vasco  ]Nunez,"said 
they,  "  had  always  absolute  command  in  his  former 
enterprises,  but  in  this  he  has  been  embarrassed 
by  an  associate.  Had  the  expedition  been  con- 
fided to  him  alone,  the  event  had  been  far  differ 
ent," 


CHAPTER  XXL 

liKTTERS  FROM  THE  KING  IN  FAVOR  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ.  — 
ARRIVAL  OF  GAR ABITO.  —  ARREST  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ. 

[1515.] 

About  this  time  dispatches  arrived  from 
Spain,  which  promised  to  give  a  new  turn  to  the 
fortunes  of  Vasco  Nunez,  and  to  the  general  af- 
fairs of  the  colony.  They  were  written  after  the 
tidings  of  the  discovery  of  the  South  Sea,  and 
the  subjugation  of  so  many  important  provinces 
of  the  Isthmus.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Vasco 
Nunez,  the  king  expressed  his  high  sense  of  his 
merits  an  I  services,  and  constituted  him  Adelan- 
tado  of  the  South  Sea,  and  Governor  of  the 
provinces  of  Panama  and  Coyba,  though  subor- 
dinate to  the  general  command  of  Pedrarias.  A 
letter  was  likewise  written  by  the  king  to  Pedi^a- 
rias,  informing  him  of  this  appointment,  and  or- 
dering liim  to  consult  Vasco  Nunez  on  all  public 
'affairs  of  importance.  This  was  a  humiliating 
blow  to  the  pride  and  consequence  of  Pedrarias, 


250       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

but  he  hoped  to  pai-ry  it.  In  the  mean  time,  as 
all  letters  from  Spahi  were  first  delivered  into  his 
hands,  he  withheld  that  intended  for  Vasco  Nunez, 
until  he  should  determine  what  course  of  conduct 
to  adopt.  The  latter,  however,  heard  of  the  cir- 
cumstance, as  did  his  friend  the  Bishop  of  Darien. 
Tlie  prelate  made  loud  complaints  of  this  inter- 
ruption of  the  royal  correspondence,  which  he 
denoimced,  even  from  the  pulpit,  as  an  outrage 
upon  the  rights  of  the  subject,  and  an  act  of  diso- 
bedience to  the  sovereign. 

Upon  this  the  governor  called  a  council  of  his 
public  officers ;  and,  after  imparting  the  contents 
of  his  letter,  requested  their  opinion  as  to  the 
propriety  of  investing  Vasco  Nunez  with  the  dig- 
nities thus  granted  to  him.  The  alcalde  mayor, 
Espinosa,  had  left  the  party  of  the  bishop,  and 
was  now  devoted  to  the  governor.  He  insisted, 
vehemently,  that  the  offices  ought  in  no  wise  to 
be  given  to  Vasco  Nunez,  until  the  king  should 
be  informed  of  the  result  of  the  inquest  still 
going  on  against  him.  In  this  he  was  warmly 
supported  by  the  treasurer  and  the  accountant. 
The  bishop  replied,  indignantly,  that  it  was  pre- 
sumptuous and  disloyal  in  them  to  dispute  the 
commands  of  the  king,  and  to  interfere  with  the 
rewards  conscientiously  given  by  him  to  a  meri- 
torious subject.  In  this  way,  he  added,  they  were 
defeating,  by  their  passions,  the  grateful  intentions 
of  their  sovereign.  The  governor  was  overawed 
by  the  honest  warmth  of  the  bishop,  and  pro- 
<^essed  to  accoi'd  with  him  in  opinion.  The  coun- 
cil lasted  until  midnight ;  and  it  was  finally  agreed 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  251 


that  the  titles  aud  dignities  should  be  conferred 
on  Vasco  Nunez  on  the  following  day.^ 

Pedrarias  and  his  officers  reflected,  however, 
that  if  the  jurisdiction  hnplied  by  these  titles 
were  absolutely  vested  in  Yasco  Nunez,  the 
government  of  Darien  and  Castilla  del  Oro, 
would  virtually  be  reduced  to  a  trifling  matter ; 
they  resolved,  therefore,  to  adopt  a  middle 
course ;  to  grant  him  the  empty  titles,  but  to 
make  him  give  security  not  to  enter  npon  the 
actual  government  of  the  territories  in  question, 
until  Pedrarias  should  give  him  permission.  The 
bishop  and  Vasco  Nunez  assented  to  this  arrange- 
ment ;  satisfied,  for  the  present,  with  securing  the 
titles,  and  trusting  to  the  course  of  events  to  get 
dominion  over  the  territories.^ 

The  new  honors  of  Vasco  Nunez  were  now 
promulgated  to  the  world,  and  he  was  every- 
where addressed  by  the  title  of  Adelantado.  His 
old  friends  lifted  up  their  heads  with  exultation, 
and  new  adherents  flocked  to  his  standard. 
Parties  began  to  form  for  him  and  for  Pedrarias ; 
for  it  was  deemed  impossible  they  could  continue 
long  in  harmony. 

The  jealousy  of  the  governor  was  excited  by 
these  circumstances ;  and  he  regarded  the  newly- 
created  Adelantado  as  a  dangerous  rival  and  an 
insidious  foe.     Just   at  this   critical  juncture, 

1  Oviedo,  part  ii.  cap.  9,  MS.  Oviedo,  the  historian,  wa 
o.^sent  at  this  consultation,  and  says  that  he  v/rote  down  the 
opinions  giren  on  the  occasion,  wh'ch  the  parties  signed  with 
'heir  propo  hands. 

2  Idem. 


2o2        VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

Audres  Garabito,  the  agent  of  Yasco  Nunez, 
arrived  on  the  coast  in  a  vessel  which  he  had 
procured  at  Cuba,  and  freighted  with  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  seventy  r<3solute  men,  for  th€ 
secret  expedition  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacifit 
Ocean.  He  anchored  six  leagues  from  th* 
harbor,  and  sent  word  privately  to  Vasco  Nunei 
of  his  arrival. 

Information  was  immediately  carried  to  Pedra- 
nas,  that  a  mysterious  vessel,  full  of  armed  men, 
was  hovering  on  the  coast,  and  holdmg  secret 
communication  with  his  rival.  The  suspicious 
temper  of  the  governor  immediately  took  the 
alarm.  He  fancied  some  treasonable  plot  againbfc 
his  authority ;  his  passions  mingled  with  his 
fears ;  and,  in  the  first  burst  of  his  fury,  ho 
ordered  that  Vasco  Nuiiez  should  be  seized  and 
confined  in  a  wooden  cage.  The  Bishop  of 
Darien  interposed  in  time  to  prevent  an  indignity 
which  it  might  have  been  impossible  to  expiate. 
He  prevailed  upon  the  passionate  governor,  not 
merely  to  retract  the  order  respecting  the  cage, 
but  to  examine  the  whole  matter  with  coolness 
and  deliberation.  The  result  proved  that  his  sus- 
picions had  been  erroneous;  and  that  the  arma- 
ment had  been  set  on  foot  without  any  treasonable 
hitent.  Vasco  Nunez  was  therefore  set  at  liberty, 
after  having  agreed  to  certain  precautionary 
conditions ;  but  he  remained  cast  down  in  spirit 
and  impoverished  in  fortune,  by  the  harass^/ig 
measures  of  Pedrarias. 


fEE  COMPANIONS  OF  COL  U ML  OS,  253 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

A'XPEDITION  OV  MORALES  AND  PIZARRO  TO  THE  S1I0RB8 
OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN.  — THEIR  VISIT  TO  THE  PEARL 
ISLANDS.  —  THEIR  DISASTROUS  RETURN  ACROSS  THE 
MOUNTAINS. 

The  Bishop  of  Darien,  encouraged  by  the 
success  of  his  intercession,  endeavored  to  per- 
suade the  governor  to  permit  the  departure  of 
Vasco  Nunez  on  his  expedition  to  the  South  Sea. 
The  jealousy  of  Pedrarias,  however,  was  too 
strong  to  allow  him  to  listen  to  such  counsel. 
He  was  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  ex- 
pedition, and  was  anxious  that  the  Pearl  Islands 
should  be  explored,  which  promised  such  abun- 
dant treasures ;  but  he  feared  to  increase  the 
popularity  of  Yasco  Nunez,  by  adding  such  an 
enterprise  to  the  number  of  his  achievements. 
Pedrarias,  therefore,  set  on  foot  an  expedition, 
consisting  of  sixty  men,  but  gave  the  command  to 
one  of  his  own  relations,  named  Gaspar  Morales. 
The  latter  was  accompanied  by  Francisco  Pizarro, 
who  had  already  been  to  those  parts  in  the  train 
of  Vasco  Nunez,  and  who  soon  rose  to  impor- 
tance in  the  present  enterprise  by  his  fierce 
courage  and  domineering  genius. 

A  brief  notice  of  the  principal  incidents  of  this 
txpedition  is  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  present 
narration. 

Morales  and  Pizarro  traversed  the  mountains 
of  the  isthmus  by  a  shorter  and  more  expeditious 
route  than  that  y^hich  had  been  taken  by  Vasco 


26 i       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

Nunez,  and  arrived  on  the  shores  of  the  South 
Sea  at  the  territories  of  a  cacique  named  Tutibrk, 
by  whom  they  were  amicably  entertained.  The'j* 
great  object  was  to  visit  the  Pearl  Islands :  tl  jq 
cacique,  however,  had  but  four  canoes,  whic-ii 
were  insufficient  to  contain  their  whole  party. 
One  half  of  their  number,  therefore,  remained  at 
the  village  of  Tutibra,  under  the  command  of  a 
captain  named  Penalosa ;  the  residue  embarked 
in  the  canoes  with  Morales  and  Pizarro.  After 
a  stormy  and  perilous  voyage,  they  landed  on 
one  of  the  smaller  islands,  where  they  had  some 
skirmishing  with  the  natives,  and  thence  made 
their  way  to  the  principal  island  of  the  archi- 
pelago, to  which,  from  the  report  of  its  great 
pearl  fishery,  Vasco  Nunez  had  given  the  name 
of  Isla  Rica. 

The  cacique  of  this  island  had  long  been  the 
terror  of  the  neighboring  coasts,  invading  the 
mainland  with  fleets  of  canoes,  and  carrying  the 
inhabitants  into  captivity.  His  reception  of  the 
Spaniards  was  worthy  of  his  fame.  Four  times 
did  he  sally  forth  to  defend  his  territory,  and  as 
often  was  he  repulsed  with  great  slaughter.  His 
warriors  were  overwhelmed  with  terror  at  the 
fire-arms  of  the  Spaniards,  and  at  their  ferocious 
blood-hounds.  Finding  all  resistance  unavailmg, 
the  cacique  was  at  length  compelled  to  sue  for 
peace.  His  prayer  being  granted,  he  received 
the  conquerors  into  his  habitation,  which  was 
well  built  and  of  immense  size.  Here  he  brought 
them  as  a  peace-oflfering  a  basket  curiously 
wrought,  and  filled  with  pearls  cf  great  beauty. 


THE  COMPANIONS,  OF  COLUMBUS.  255 

Among  these  were  two  of  extraordinary  size  and 
value.  One  weighed  twenty-five  carats  ;  the  other 
was  of  the  size  of  a  Muscadine  pear,  weighing 
upwards  of  three  drachms,  and  of  oriental  color 
and  lustre.  The  cacique  considered  himself  more 
than  repaid  by  a  present  of  hatchets,  beads,  and 
hawks'  bells :  and,  on  the  Spaniards  smiling  at 
his  joy,  observed :  "  These  things  I  can  turn  to 
useful  purpose,  but  of  what  value  are  those 
pearls  to  me  ?  " 

Finding,  however,  that  these  baubles  were  pre- 
cious in  the  eyes  of  the  Spaniards,  he  took  Mor- 
ales and  Pizarro  to  the  summit  of  a  woot^en  tower, 
commanding  an  unbounded  prospect.  "  Behold 
before  you,"  said  he,  "  the  infinite  sea,  which  ex- 
tends even  beyond  the  sunbeams.  As  to  these 
islands  which  lie  to  the  right  and  left,  they  ,  are  all 
subject  to  my  sway.  They  possess  but  little  gold, 
but  the  deep  places  of  the  sea  around  them  are 
full  of  pearls.  Continue  to  be  my  friends,  and 
you  shall  have  as  many  as  you  desire ;  for  I  value 
your  friendship  more  than  pearls,  and,  as  far  as  in 
me  lies,  will  never  forfeit  it." 

He  then  pointed  to  the  mainland,  where  it 
stretched  away  towards  the  east,  mountain  beyond 
mountain,  until  the  summit  of  the  last  faded  in 
the  distance,  and  was  scarcely  seen  above  the 
watery  horizon.  In  that  direction,  he  said,  there 
lay  a  vast  country  of  inexhaustible  riches,  inhab- 
ited by  a  mighty  nation.  He  went  on  to  repeat 
the  vague  but  wonderful  rumors  which  the  Span- 
iards had  frequently  heard  about  .he  great  king- 
dom of  Peru.    Pizarro  listened  greedily  to  his 


256       VOYAGES  AM)  uiSCOVERIES  OF 

words,  and  while  his  eye  followed  the  finger  of  tha 
cacique,  as  it  ranged  along  the  line  of  shadowy 
coast,  his  daring  mind  kindled  with  the  thought  of 
seeing  this  golden  empire  beyond  the  waters.-^ 

Before  leaving  the  island,  the  two  captains  im- 
pressed the  cacique  with  so  great  an  idea  of  the 
power  of  the  king  of  Castile,  that  he  agreed  to 
become  his  vassal,  and  to  render  him  an  annual 
tribute  of  one  hundred  pounds'  weight  of  pearls. 

The  party  having  returned  in  safety  to  the  main- 
land, though  to  a  different  place  from  that  where 
they  had  embarked,  Gaspar  Morales  sent  his  re- 
lation, Bernardo  Morales,  with  ten  men  in  quest 
of  Penalosa  and  his  companions,  who  had  re- 
mained in  the  village  of  Tutibra. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Spaniards,  during  the  ab- 
sence of  the  commanders,  this  Penalosa  had  so 
exasperated  the  natives  by  liis  misconduct,  that  a 
conspiracy  had  been  formed  by  the  caciques  along 
the  coast  to  massacre  the  whole  of  the  strangers, 
when  the  ])arty  should  return  from  the  islands. 

Bernardo  Morales  and  his  companions,  on  their 
way  in  quest  of  Penalosa,  put  up  for  the  night  in 
tlie  village  of  a  cacique  named  Chuchama,  who 
was  one  of  the  conspirators.  They  were  enter- 
tained with  pretended  hospitality.  In  the  dead 
of  the  night,  however,  the  house  in  which  they 
were  sleeping  was  wrapped  in  flames,  and  most 
of  them  were  destroyed.  Chuchama  then  pre- 
pared with  liis  confederates  to  attack  the  main 
body  of  the  Spaniards  who  remained  with  Morales 
and  Pizarro. 

1  Herrera,  decacl.  ii.  lib.  i.  cap.  4.  Peter  Martyr,  decad.  iii. 
cap.  10 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  257 


Fortunately  for  the  latter,  there  was  among  the 
Indians  who  had  accompanied  them  to  the  islands, 
a  cacique  named  Chiruca,  who  was  in  secret  cor- 
respondence with  the  conspirators.  Some  cir- 
cumstances in  his  conduct  excited  their  suspicions ; 
they  put  him  to  the  torture,  and  drew  from  him  a 
relation  of  the  massacre  of  their  companions,  and 
of  the  attack  with  which  they  were  menaced. 

Morales  and  Pizarro  were  at  lirst  appalled  by 
the  overwhelming  danger  which  surrounded  them. 
Concealing  their  agitation,  however,  they  com- 
pelled Chiruca  to  send  a  message  to  each  of  the  con- 
federate caciques,  inviting  him  to  a  secret  confer- 
ence, under  pretense  of  giving  him  important  in- 
formation. The  caciques  came  at  the  summons: 
they  were  thus  taken  one  by  one  to  the  number 
of  eighteen,  and  put  in  chains.  Just  at  this  junc- 
ture Peiialosa  arrived  with  the  thirty  men  who 
had  remained  with  him  at  Tutibra.  Their  ar- 
rival was  hailed  with  joy  by  their  comrades,  who 
had  given  them  up  for  lost.  Encouraged  by  this 
unexpected  reinforcement,  the  Spaniards  now  at- 
tacked by  surprise  the  main  body  of  confederate 
Indians,  who,  being  ignorant  of  the  discovery  of 
their  plot,  and  capture  of  their  caciques,  were 
awaiting  the  return  of  the  latter,  in  a  state  of 
negligent  security. 

Pizarro  led  the  van,  and  set  upon  the  enemy 
at  day-break,  with  the  old  Spanish  war-cry  of 
Santiago  !  It  was  a  slaughter  rather  than  a  battle, 
for  the  Indians  were  unprepared  for  resistance. 
Before  sunrise  seven  hundred  lay  dead  upon  the 
field.    Returning  from  the  massacre,  the  com- 

VOL.  III.  17 


258       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


maiiders  doomed  tlie  caciques  who  were  in  chains 
to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  the  blood-hounds ;  nor  was 
even  Chiruca  spared  from  this  sanguinary  sentence. 
Notwithstanding  this  bloody  revenge,  the  vmdic- 
tive  spirit  of  the  commanders  was  still  unappeased, 
and  they  set  off  to  surprise  the  village  of  a  ca- 
cique named  Biru,  who  dwelt  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael.  He  was  famed  for 
valor  and  for  cruelty :  his  dwelling  was  surrounded 
by  the  weapons  and  other  trophies  of  those  whom 
he  had  vanquished ;  and  he  was  said  never  to  give 
quarter. 

The  Spaniards  assailed  his  village  before  day- 
break with  fire  and  sword,  and  made  dreadful 
havoc.  Biru  escaped  from  his  burning  Habitation, 
rallied  his  people,  kept  up  a  galling  fight  through- 
out the  greater  part  of  that  day,  anu  handled  the 
Spaniards  so  roughly,  that,  when  he  drew  off  at 
night,  they  did  not  venture  to  pursue  him,  but  re- 
turned right  gladly  from  his  terri'.oiy.  According 
to  some  of  the  Spanish  writers,  the  kingdom  of 
Peru  derived  its  name  from  this  warlike  cacique 
through  a  blunder  of  the  early  discoverers ;  th^ 
assertion,  however,  is  believed  to  be  erroneous. 

The  Spaniards  had  pushed  their  bloody  revenge 
to  an  extreme,  and  were  now  doomed  to  suffer 
from  the  recoil.  In  the  fury  of  their  passions, 
they  had  forgotten  that  they  were  but  a  handful 
of  men  surrounded  by  savage  nations.  Returning 
wearied  and  disheartened  from  the  battle  with 
Biru,  they  were  waylaid  and  assaulted  by  a  host 
of  Indians  led  on  by  the  son  of  Chiruca.  A  jave- 
lin from  liis  hand  pierced  one  of  Qin  Spaniards 


THE  COMPANJONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  259 


through  the  breast,  and  came  out  bet-^een  the 
fihouJ.ders;  several  others  were  wounded,  and  the 
remainder  were  harassed  by  a  galling  fire  kept  up 
from  among  rocks  and  bushes. 

Dismayed  at  the  implacable  vengeance  they  had 
aroused,  the  Spaniards  hastened  to  abandon  these 
hostile  shores,  and  make  the  best  of  their  way 
back  to  Darien.  The  Indians,  however,  were  not 
to  be  appeased  by  the  mere  departure  of  the  in- 
truders. They  followed  them  perse veringly  for 
seven  days,  hanging  on  their  skirts,  and  harassing 
them  by  continual  alarms.  Morales  and  Pizarro, 
seeing  the  obstinacy  of  their  pursuit,  endeavored 
to  gain  a  march  upon  them  by  stratagem.  Mak- 
ing large  fires,  as  usual,  one  night  about  the  place 
of  their  encampment,  they  left  them  burning  to 
deceive  the  enemy,  while  they  made  a  rapid  re- 
treat. Among  their  nuniber  was  one  poor  fellow 
named  Velasquez,  who  was  so  grievously  wounded 
that  he  could  not  walk.  Unable  to  accompany 
his  countrymen  in  their  flight,  and  dreading  to 
fall  into  the  merciless  hands  of  the  savages,  he 
determined  to  hang  himself,  nor  could  the  prayers 
and  even  tears  of  his  comrades  dissuade  him  from 
his  purpose. 

The  stratagem  of  the  Spaniards,  however,  was 
'  unavailing.  Their  retreat  was  perceived,  and  at 
I  'day-break,  to  their  dismay,  they  found  themselves 
i  surrounded  by  three  squadrons  of  savages.  Un- 
able, in  their  haggai'd  state,  to  make  head  against 
60  many  foes,  they  remained  drawn  up  all  day  on 
i  the  defensive,  some  watching,  while  others  reposed, 
I    ki  night  they  lit  their  fires,  and  again  attempted 


260       VOrJGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

to  make  a  secret  retreat.  The  Indians,  however, 
were  as  usual  on  their  traces,  and  wounded  several 
with  arrows.  Thus  pressed  and  goaded,  the  Span- 
iards became  desperate,  and  fought  like  madmen, 
rushing  upon  the  very  darts  of  the  enemy. 

Morales  now  resorted  to  an  inhuman  and  fruit- 
less expedient  to  retard  his  pursuers.  He  caused 
several  Indian  prisoners  to  be  slain,  hoping  that 
their  friends  would  stop  to  lament  over  them  ; 
but  the  sight  of  their  mangled  bodies  only  in- 
creased the  fury  of  the  savages  and  the  obstinacy 
of  their  pursuit. 

For  nine  days  were  the  Spaniards  hunted  in 
this  manner  about  the  woods  and  mountains,  the 
swamps  and  fens,  wandering  they  knew  not 
whither,  and  returning  upon  their  steps,  until,  to 
their  dismay,  they  found  themselves  in  the  very 
place  where,  several  days  previously,  they  had 
been  surrounded  by  the  three  squadrons. 

Many  now  despaired  of  ever  escaping  with 
life  from  this  trackless  wilderness,  thus  teeming 
with  deadly  foes.  It  was  with  difficulty  their 
commanders  could  rally  their  spirits,  and  encour- 
age them  to  persevere.  Entermg  a  tliick  forest, 
they  were  again  assailed  by  a  band  of  Indians, 
but  despair  and  fury  gave  them  strength  ;  they 
fought  like  wild  beasts  rather  than  like  men,  and 
routed  the  foe  with  dreadful  carnage.  They  had 
hoped  to  gain  a  breathing  time  by  this  victory, 
but  a  new  distress  attended  them.  They  got  en- 
tangled in  one  of  those  deep  and  dismal  marshes 
which  abound  on  those  coasts,  and  in  which  the 
v^auderer  is  often  drowned  or  suffocated.    For  a 


TFIE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  2GI 

whole  day  they  toiled  through  bmlie  and  bramble, 
and  miry  fen,  with  the  water  reaching  to  their 
girdles.  At  length  they  extricated  themselvea 
from  the  swamp,  and  arrived  at  the  sea- shore. 
The  tide  was  out,  but  was  about  to  return,  and 
on  this  coast  it  rises  rapidly  to  a  great  height. 
Fearing  to  be  overwhelmed  by  the  rising  surf, 
they  hastened  to  climb  a  rock  out  of  reach  of  the 
swelling  waters.  Here  they  threw  themselves 
cn  the  earth,  panting  with  fatigue  and  aban 
doned  to  despair.  A  savage  wilderness,  filled  with 
still  more  savage  foes,  was  on  one  side  ;  on  the 
other  the  roaring  sea.  How  were  they  to  extri- 
cate themselves  from  these  surrounding  perils  ? 
While  reflecting  on  their  desperate  situation,  they 
heard  the  voices  of  Indians.  On  looking  cau- 
tiously around,  they  beheld  four  canoes  entering 
a  neighboring  creek.  A  party  was  immediately 
dispatched,  who  came  upon  the  savages  by  sur- 
prise, drove  them  into  the  woods,  and  seized  upon 
the  canoes.  In  these  frail  barks  the  Spaniards 
escaped  from  their  perilous  neighborhood,  and, 
traversing  the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael,  landed  in  a 
less  hostile  part,  whence  they  set  out  a  second 
time  across  the  mountains. 

It  is  needless  to  recount  the  other  hardships 
they  endured,  and  their  further  conflicts  with  the 
Indians  ;  suffice  it  to  say,  after  a  series  of  almost 
incredible  sufferings  and  disasters,  they  at  length 
arrived  in  a  battered  and  emaciated  condition  at 
Darien.  Throughout  all  their  toils  and  troubles, 
however,  they  had  managed  to  preserve  a  part  of 
the  treasure  gained  in  the  islands ;  especially  tha 


2C2 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OB 


pearls  given  them  by  the  cacique  of  Isla  Kica. 
These  were  objects  of  universal  admiration.  One 
of  them  was  put  up  at  auction,  and  bought  by 
Pedrarias,  and  was  afterwards  presented  by  Ids 
wife  Dona  Isabella  de  Bobadilla  to  the  empress, 
who,  in  return,  gave  her  four  thousand  ducats.^ 

Such  was  the  cupidity  of  the  colonists,  that  the 
sight  of  these  pearls,  and  the  reputed  wealth  of 
the  islands  of  the  southern  sea,  and  the  king- 
doms on  its  borders,  made  far  greater  impres- 
sion on  the  public  mind,  than  the  tale  told  by 
the  adventurers  of  the  horrors  they  had  passed ; 
and  every  one  was  eager  to  seek  these  wealthy 
regions  beyond  the  mountains. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

UNFORTUNATE  ENTERPRISES  OF  THE  OFFICERS  OP  PB-^ 
DRARTAS.  —  MATRIMONIAL  COMPACT  BETWEEN  THE 
GOVERNOR  AND  VASCO  NUNEZ. 

In  narrating  the  preceding  expedition  of  Mo- 
rales and  Pizarro,  we  have  been  tempted  into 
what  may  almost  be  deemed  an  episode,  though 
it  serves  to  place  in  a  proper  light  the  lurking 
difficulties  and  dangers  which  beset  the  expeditions 
of  Yasco  Nunez  to  the  same  regions,  and  his  su- 
perior prudence  and  management  in  avoiding 
them.  It  is  not  the  object  of  this  narrative,  how- 
ever, to  record  the  general  events  of  the  colony 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  ii.  lib.  i.  cap.  4. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  263 

ttndt3r  the  administration  of  Don  Pedrarias  Davila. 
We  refrain,  therefore,  from  detailing  various  ex- 
peditions set  on  foot  by  him  to  explore  and  sub- 
jugate  the  surrounding  country  ;  and  which,  being 
ignorantly  or  rashly  conducted,  too  often  ended  in 
misfortune  and  disgrace.  One  of  these  was  tc 
the  province  of  Zenu,  where  gold  was  supposed 
to  be  taken  in  the  rivers  in  nets  ;  and  where  the 
Bachelor  Enciso  once  undertook  to  invade  the 
sepulchres.  A  captain,  named  Francisco  Becerra, 
penetrated  into  this  country  at  the  head  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  men,  well  armed  and  equipped, 
and  provided  with  three  pieces  of  artillery  ;  but 
neither  the  commander  nor  any  of  his  men  re- 
turned. An  Indian  boy  who  accompanied  them 
was  the  only  one  who  escaped,  and  told  the  dis- 
mal tale  of  their  falling  victims  to  the  assaults 
and  stratagems  and  poisoned  arrows  of  the  In- 
dians. 

Another  band  was  defeated  by  Tubanama,  the 
ferocious  cacique  of  the  mountains,  who  bore  as 
his  banners  the  bloody  shirts  of  Spaniards  slam 
in  former  battles.  In  fine,  the  colony  became  so 
weakened  by  these  repeated  losses,  and  the  sav- 
ages so  emboldened  by  success,  that  the  latter  be- 
leaguered it  with  their  forces,  harassed  it  by 
aiisaults  and  ambuscades,  and  reduced  it  to  great 
extremity.  Such  was  the  alarm  in  Darien,  says 
the  Bishop  Las  Casas,  that  the  people  feared  to 
be  burned  in  their  houses.  They  kept  a  watch- 
ful eye  upon  the  mountains,  the  plains,  and  the 
very  branches  of  the  trees.  Their  imaginations 
were  infected  by  their  fears.    K  they  looked 


2G4       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

towards  the  land,  the  long  waving  grass  of  the 
savannas  appeared  to  them  to  be  moving  liosts  of 
Indians.  If  they  looked  towards  the  sea,  they 
fancied  they  beheld  fleets  of  canoes  in  the  dis- 
tance. Pedrarias  endeavored  to  prevent  all 
rumors  from  abroad  that  might  increase  this  fev- 
ered state  of  alarm  ;  at  the  same  time  he  ordered 
the  sraelting-house  to  be  closed,  which  was  never 
done  but  in  time  of  war.  Tliis  was  done  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  bishop,  who  caused  prayers  to 
be  put  up,  and  fasts  proclaimed,  to  avert  the  im- 
pending calamities. 

While  Pedrarias  was  harassed  and  perplexed 
by  these  complicated  evils,  he  was  haunted  by 
continual  apprehensions  of  the  ultimate  ascen- 
dency of  Vasco  Nunez.  He  knew  him  to  be  be- 
loved by  the  people,  and  befriended  by  the  bishop ; 
and  he  had  received  proofs  that  his  services  were 
highly  appreciated  by  the  king.  He  knew  also 
that  representations  had  been  sent  home  by  him 
and  his  partisans,  of  the  evils  and  abuses  of  the 
colony  under  the  present  rule,  and  of  the  necessity 
of  a  more  active  and  efficient  governor.  He 
dreaded  lest  these  representations  should  ultimate- 
ly succeed ;  that  he  should  be  undermined  in  the 
royal  favor,  and  Vasco  Nunez  be  elevated  upon 
his  ruins. 

The  politic  bishop  perceived  the  uneasy  state 
of  the  governor's  mind,  and  endeavored,  by 
means  of  his  apprehensions,  to  effect  that  recon- 
ciliation which  he  had  sought  in  vain  to  produce 
through  more  generous  motives.  He  represented 
to  him  that  liis  treatment  of  Vasco  Nuiicz  was 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  265 


odious  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  mn2t  even 
tually  draw  on  him  the  displeasure  of  his  sover« 
eign  "  But  why  persist,"  added  he,  in  driving 
a  man  to  become  your  deadhest  enemy,  whom 
you  may  grapple  to  your  side  as  your  firmest 
friend?  You  have  several  daughters- — give 
him  one  in  marriage  ;  you  will  then  have  for  a 
son-in-law  a  man  of  merit  and  popularity,  who 
is  a  hidalgo  by  birth,  and  a  favorite  of  the  king. 
You  are  advanced  in  life,  and  infirm ;  he  is  in  the 
prime  and  vigor  of  his,  days,  and  possessed  of 
great  activity.  You  can  make  him  you>^  lieuten- 
ant ;  and  while  you  repose  from  your  toils,  he 
can  carry  on  the  affairs  of  the  colony  with  spirit 
and  enterprise ;  and  all  his  achievements  will 
redound  to  the  advancement  of  your  family  and 
the  splendor  of  your  administration." 

The  governor  and  his  lady  were  won  by  the 
eloquence  of  the  bishop,  and  readily  listened  to 
his  suggestion  ;  and  Yasco  Nunez  was  but  too 
happy  to  effect  a  recoiicihation  on  such  flattering 
terms.  Written  articles  were  accordingly  drawn 
up  and  exchanged,  contracting  a  marriage  between 
him  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  Pedrarias.  The 
young  lady  was  then  in  Spain,  but  was  to  be 
sent  for,  and  the  nuptials  were  to  be  celebrated 
on  her  arrival  at  Darien. 

Having  thus  fulfilled  his  office  of  peacemaker 
and  settled,  as  he  supposed,  all  feuds  and  jeal 
[)usies  on  the  sure  and  permanent  foundation  of 
family  alliance,  the  worthy  bishop  departed 
shortly  afterwards  for  Spain. 


266       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

VA3C0   NUNEZ  TRANSPORTS  SHIPS  ACROSS  THE  MOVN 
TAINS  TO  THE  PACIiTO  OCEAN 

[1516.] 

Behold  Vasco  Nunez  once  more  in  the  high 
career  of  prosperity  !  His  most  implacable  en- 
emy had  suddenly  been  converted  into  his  dear- 
est friend  ;  for  the  governor,  now  that  he  looked 
upon  him  as  his  son-in-law,  loaded  him  with 
favors.  Above  all,  he  authorized  him  to  build 
brigantines,  and  make  all  the  necessary  prep- 
arations for  his  long-desired  expedition  to  explore 
the  Southern  Ocean.  The  place  appointed  for 
these  purposes  was  the  port  of  Careta,  situated 
to  the  west  of  Darien ;  whence  there  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  most  convenient  route  across  the 
mountains.  A  town  called  Ada  had  been 
founded  at  this  port ;  and  the  fortress  was  al- 
ready erected,  of  which  Lope  de  Olano  was 
alcalde ;  Yasco  Nunez  was  now  empowered  to 
continue  the  building  of  the  town.  Two  hun- 
dred men  were  placed  under  his  command,  to  aid 
liim  in  carrying  his  plans  into  execution,  and  a 
sum  of  money  was  advanced  to  him  out  of  the 
royal  treasury.  His  supply  of  funds,  however, 
was  not  sufficient ;  but  he  received  assistance 
from  a  private  source.  There  was  a  notary  at 
Darien,  Hernando  de  Arguello,  a  man  of  some 
consequence  in   the  community,  and  vvJio  had 


rflE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  267 


been  one  of  the  most  furious  opponents  of  the 
unfortunate  Nicuesa.  He  had  amassed  consid- 
erable property,  and  now  embarked  a  great  part 
of  it  in  the  proposed  enterprise,  on  condition,  no 
doubt,  of  sharing  largely  in  its  anticipated  proQts. 

On  arriving  at  Ada,  Vasco  Nunez  set  to  work 
to  prepare  the  materials  of  four  briganiines  to 
be  launched  into  the  South  Sea.  The  timber 
was  felled  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard ;  and  was 
then,  with  the  anchors  and  rigging,  transported 
across  the  lofty  ridge  of  mountains  to  the  oppo- 
site shores  of  the  Isthmus.  Several  Spaniards, 
thirty  Negroes,  and  a  great  number  of  Indians 
were  employed  for  the  purpose.  They  had  no 
other  roads  but  Indian  paths,  straggling  through 
almost  impervious  forests,  across  torrents,  and  up 
rugged  defiles  broken  by  rocks  and  precipices. 
In  this  way  they  toiled  like  ants  np  the  moun- 
tains, with  their  ponderous  burdens,  under  the 
scorching  rays  of  a  tropical  sun.  Many  of  the 
poor  Indians  sank  by  the  way,  and  perished 
under  this  stupendous  task.  The  Spaniards  and 
Negroes  being  of  hardier  constitutions,  were  bet- 
ter able  to  cope  with  the  incredible  hardships  to 
which  they  were  subjected.  On  the  summit  of 
the  mountains  a  house  had  been  provided  for 
their  temporary  repose.  After  remaining  here  a 
little  time  to  refresh  themselves  and  gain  new 
strength,  they  renewed  their  labors,  descending 
the  opposite  side  of  the  mountains,  until  they 
reached  the  navigable  part  of  a  river,  which  they 
called  the  Balsas,  and  which  flowed  into  the 
Pacific.  , 


268       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Much  time  and  trouble  and  many  lives  were 
expended  on  this  arduous  undertaking,  before 
they  had  transported  to  the  river  sufficient  tim- 
ber for  two  brigantines ;  while  the  timber  for 
the  other  two,  and  the  rigging  and  munitions  for 
the  whole,  yet  remained  to  be  brought.  To  add 
to  their  difficulties,  they  had  scarcely  begun  to 
work  upon  the  timber  before  they  discovered 
that  it  was  totally  useless,  being  subject  to  the 
ravages  of  the  worms  from  having  been  cut  in 
the  vicinity  of  salt  water.  They  were  obliged, 
therefore,  to  begin  anew,  and  fell  trees  on  the 
border  of  the  river. 

Vasco  Nunez  maintained  his  patience  and  per- 
severance, and  displayed  admirable  management 
under  these  delays  and  difficulties.  Their  sup- 
ply of  food  being  scanty,  he  divided  his  people, 
Spaniards,  Negroes,  and  Indians,  into  three 
bands ;  one  was  to  cut  and  saw  the  wood, 
another  to  bring  the  rigging  and  iron-work  from 
Ada,  which  was  twenty-two  leagues  distant  ; 
and  the  third  to  forage  the  neighboring  country 
for  provisions. 

Scarcely  was  the  timber  felled  and  shaped  for 
use  when  the  rains  set  in,  and  the  river  swelled 
and  overflowed  its  banks  so  suddenly,  that  the 
workmen  barely  escaped  with  their  lives,  by 
clambering  into  trees  ;  while  the  wood  on  which 
they  had  been  working  was  either  buried  in  sand 
or  slime,  or  swept  away  by  the  raging  torrent. 
Famine  was  soon  added  to  their  other  distresses. 
The  foraging  party  did  not  return  with  food 
and  the  swelling  of  the  river  cut  them  off  from 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  269 


that  part  of  the  country  whence  they  obtained 
their  supplies.  They  were  reduced,  therefore, 
to  such  scarcity,  as  to  be  fain  to  assuage  their 
hunger  with  roots  gathered  in  the  forests. 

In  this  extremity  the  Indians  bethought  them- 
selves of  one  of  their  rude  and  simple  expedients. 
Plunging  into  the  river,  they  fastened  a  num- 
ber of  logs  together  with  withes,  and  connected 
them  with  the  opposite  bank,  so  as  to  make  a 
floating  bridge.  On  this  a  party  of  the  Span- 
iards crossed  with  great  difficulty  and  peril,  from 
the  violence  of  the  current,  and  the  flexibility 
of  the  bridge,  which  often  sank  beneath  them 
until  the  water  rose  above  their  girdles.  On 
being  safely  landed,  they  foraged  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  procured  a  supply  of  provisions  suf- 
ficient for  the  present  emergency. 

When  t!ie  river  subsided  the  workmen  again 
resumed  their  labors  ;  a  number  of  recruits  ar- 
rived from  Ada,  bringing  various  supplies,  and 
the  business  of  the  enterprise  was  pressed  with 
redoubled  ardor,  until,  after  a  series  of  incredible 
toils  and  hardships,  Yasco  Nunez  had  the  satis- 
faction to  behold  two  of  his  brigantines  floating 
on  the  river  Balsas.  As  soon  as  they  could  be 
equipped  for  sea.  he  embarked  in  them  with  as 
many  Spaniards  as  they  could  carry  ;  and,  issuing 
from  the  river,  launched  triumphantly  on  the 
great  ocean  he  had  discovered. 

We  can  readily  imagine  the  exultation  of  this 
intrepid  adventurer,  and  how  amply  he  was  repaid 
for  all  his  sufferings,  when  he  first  spread  a  sail 
on  that  un traversed  ocean,  and  felt  that  tho 
range  of  an  unknown  world  was  open  to  him. 


270  'voyage J  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Tliere  are  points  in  the  history  of  those 
Spanish  discoveries  of  the  western  hemisphere, 
which  make  us  pause  with  wonder  and  admiration 
at  the  daring  spirit  of  the  men  who  conducted 
them,  and  the  appalling  difficulties  surmounted 
by  their  courage  and  perseverance.  We  know 
few  instances,  however,  more  striking  than  this 
piecemeal  transportation,  across  the  mountains 
of  Darien,  of  the  tirst  European  ships  that 
ploughed  ^he  waves  of  the  Pacific  ;  and  we  can 
readily  excuse  the  boast  of  the  old  Castilian 
writers,  when  they  exclaim,  "  that  none  but  Span- 
iards could  ever  have  conceived  or  persisted  in 
such  an  undertaking  ;  and  no  commander  in  the 
New  World  but  Vasco  Nunez  could  have  con- 
ducted it  to  a  successful  issue."  ^ 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CRUISE  OP  VASCO  NUNEZ  TN  THE  SOUTHERN  SEA.— RU- 
MORS  FROM  ACL  A 

The  first  cruise  of  Vasco  Nuiiez  was  to  the 
group  of  Pearl  Islands,  on  the  principal  one  of 
which  he  disembarked  the  greater  part  of  his 
crews,  and  dispatched  the  brigantines  to  the 
main-land  to  bring  off  the  remainder.  It  was 
his  intention  to  construct  the  other  two  vessels 
of  his  proposed  squadron  at  this  island.  During 
the  absence  of  the  brigantines  he  ranged  the 
1  Herrera,  decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  11 


THE 


COMPANIONS  OF 


COLUMBUS. 


271 


island  with  his  men,  to  collect  provisions,  and  to 
establish  a  complete  sway  over  the  natives.  On 
the  return  of  his  vessels,  and  while  preparations 
were  making  for  the  building  of  the  others,  he 
embarked  with  a  hundred  men,  and  departed  on 
a  reconnoitring  cruise  to  the  eastward,  towards 
the  region  pointed  out  by  the  Indians  as  abound- 
ing in  riches. 

Having  passed  about  twenty  leagues  beyond 
the  Gulf  of  San  Miguel,  the  mariners  were 
alarmed  at  beholding  a  great  number  of  whales, 
which  resembled  a  reef  of  rocks  stretching  far 
into  the  sea,  and  lashed  by  breakers.  In  an 
unknown  ocean  like  this,  every  unusual  object  is 
apt  to  inspire  alarm.  The  seamen  feared  to  ap- 
proach these  fancied  dangers  in  the  dark :  Yasco 
Nunez  anchored,  therefore,  for  the  night,  under 
a  point  of  land,  intending  to  continue  in  the  same 
direction  on  the  following  day.  When  the  morn- 
ing dawned,  however,  the  wind  had  changed,  and 
was  contrary ;  whereupon  he  altered  his  course, 
and  thus  abandoned  a  cruise,  which,  if  perse- 
vered in,  might  have  terminated  in  the  discovery 
of  Peru  !  Steering  for  the  main-land,  he  anchored 
on  that  part  of  the  coast  governed  by  the  cacique 
Chuchama,  who  had  massacred  Bernardo  Morales 
and  his  companions,  when  reposing  in  his  village. 
Here  landing  with  his  men,  Vasco  Nunez  cane  e 
suddenly  upon  the  dwelling  of  the  cacique.  The 
Indians  sallied  forth  to  defend  their  homes,  but 
were  routed  with  great  loss ;  and  ample  ven- 
geance was  taken  upon  them  for  their  outrage 
upon    the    laws  of   hospitality.    Having  thus 


272       VOFAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


uveiiged  the  death  of  his  countrymen,  Yaseo 
Nunez  reeni barked  and  returned  to  Isla  Rica. 

He  now  applied  himself  diligently  to  completo 
the  building  of  his  brigantmes,  dispatching  men 
to  Ada  to  brhag  the  necessary  stores  and  rigging 
across  the  mountams.  While  thus  occupied,  a 
rumor  reached  him  that  a  new  governor  named 
Lope  de  Sosa  was  coming  out  from  Spain  to 
supersede  Pedrarias.  Yasco  Nunez  was  troubled 
at  these  tidings.  A  new  governor  would  be 
likely  to  adopt  new  measures,  or  to  have  new 
favorites.  He  feared,  therefore,  that  some  order 
might  come  to  suspend  or  embarrass  his  expe- 
dition ;  or  that  the  command  of  it  might  be  given 
to  another.  In  this  perplexity  he  held  a  consul- 
tation with  several  of  his  confidential  officers. 

After  some  debate,  it  was  agreed  among  them 
that  a  trusty  and  intelligent  person  should  be 
sent  as  a  scout  to  Ada,  under  pretense  of  pro- 
curing munitions  for  the  ships.  Should  he  find 
Pedrarias  in  quiet  possession  of  the  government, 
he  was  to  account  to  him  for  the  delay  of  the  ex- 
pedition ;  and  request  that  the  time  allotted  to  it 
might  be  extended,  and  to  request  reinforcements 
and  supplies.  Should  he  find,  however,  a  new 
governor  actually  arrived,  he  was  to  return  im- 
mediately with  the  tidings.  In  such  case  it  was 
resolved  to  put  to  sea  before  any  contrary  order* 
should  arrive,  trusting  eventually  to  excuse  them 
eelves  on  the  plea  of  zeal  and  good  intentions. 


VHh  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  273 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

OEOONNOITRING  EXPEDITION  OF  GARABITO.  — STRATAGEM 
OF  PEDRARIAS  TO  ENTRAP  VASCO  NUNEZ. 

The  person  intrusted  with  the  reconnoitring 
eypedition  to  Ada  was  Andres  Garabito,  in 
whose  fidelity  and  discretion  Yasco  Nunez  had 
implicit  confidence.  His  confidence  was  destined 
to  be  fatally  deceived.  According  to  the  asser- 
tions of  contemporaries,  this  Garabito  cherished  a 
secret  and  vindictive  enmity  against  his  com- 
mander, arising  from  a  simple  but  a  natural 
cause.  Vasco  Nunez  had  continued  to  have  a 
fondness  for  the  Indian  damsel,  daughter  of  the 
cacique  Careta,  whom  he  had  received  from  her 
father  as  a  pledge  of  amity.  Some  dispute  arose 
concerning  her  on  one  occasion  between  him  and 
Garabito,  in  the  course  of  which  he  expressed  him- 
self in  severe  and  galling  language.  Garabito 
was  deeply  mortified  at  some  of  his  expressions, 
and  being  of  a  malignant  spirit,  determined  on  a 
dastardly  revenge.  He  wrote  privately  to  Pe- 
drarias,  assuring  liim  that  Vasco  Nunez  had  no 
intention  of  solemnizing  his  marriage  with  his 
daughter,  being  completely  under  the  influence 
of  an  Indian  paramour ;  that  he  made  use  of  the 
friendsliip  of  Pedrarias  merely  to  further  his  own 
selfish  views,  intending  as  soon  as  his  ships  were 
ready,  to  throw  ofi*  all  allegiance,  and  put  'o  sea 
as  an  independent  commander. 

This  mischievous  letter  Garabito  had  writteo 

VOL.  III.  18 


274       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

immediately  after  the  last  departure  of  Vasco 
Nunez  from  Ada.  Its  effect  upon  the  proud 
and  jealous  spirit  of  the  governor  may  easily  be 
conceived.  All  his  former  suspicions  were  imme- 
diately revived.  They  acquired  strength  during 
a  long  interval  that  elapsed  without  tidings  being 
received  from  the  expedition.  There  were  de- 
signing and  prejudiced  persons  at  hand,  who  per- 
ceived and  quickened  these  jealous  feelings  of 
the  governor.  Among  these  was  the  Bacheloi 
Corral,  who  cherished  a  deep  grudge  against 
Vasco  Nunez  for  having  once  thrown  him  into 
prison  for  his  fractious  conduct ;  and  Alonzo  de 
la  Puente,  the  royal  treasurer,  whom  Vasco 
Nunez  had  affronted  by  demanding  the  repay- 
ment of  a  loan.  Such  was  the  tempest  gradually 
gathering  in  the  factious  little  colony  of  Darien. 

The  subsequent  conduct  of  Garabito  gives 
much  confirmation  to  the  charge  of  perfidy  ad- 
vanced against  him.  When  he  arrived  at  Ada. 
he  found  that  Pedrarias  remained  in  possession 
of  the  government;  for  his  intended  successor 
had  died  in  the  very  harbor.  The  conduct  and 
conversation  of  Garabito  was  such  as  to  arouse 
suspicion ;  he  was  arrested,  and  his  papers  and 
letters  were  sent  to  Pedrarias.  AVhen  examined, 
he  readily  suffered  himself  to  be  wrought  upon 
by  threats  of  punishment  and  promises  of  pardon, 
and  revealed  all  that  he  knew,  and  declared  still 
more  what  he  suspected  and  surmised,  of  the 
plans  and  intentions  of  Vasco  Nunez. 

The  arrest  of  Garabito,  and  the  seizure  of  liis 
.etters,  produced  a  great  agitation  at  Darien.  It 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  275 

was  considered  a  revival  of  the  ancient  animosity 
between  the  governor  and  Vasco  Nnnez,  and  the 
friends  of  the  latter  trembled  for  his  safety. 

Hernando  de  Arguello,  especially,  was  in  great 
alarm.  He  had  embarked  the  most  of  his  fortune 
in  the  expedition,  alid  the  failure  of  it  would  be 
ruinous  to  him.  He  wrote  to  Vasco  Nunez,  in- 
forming him  of  the  critical  posture  of  affairs,  and 
urging  him  to  put  co  sea  without  delay.  He 
would  be  protected  at  all  events,  he  said,  by  the 
Jeronimite  Fathers  at  San  Domingo,  who  were 
at  that  time  all  powerful  in  the  New  World,  and 
who  regarded  his  expedition  as  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  glory  of  God  as  well  as  the  dominion 
of  the  king.^  This  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Pedrarias,  and  convinced  him  of  the  existence  of 
a  dangerous  plot  against  liis  authority.  He  im- 
mediately ordered  Arguello  to  be  arrested ;  and 
now  devised  means  to  get  Vasco  Nunez  within 
his  power.  While  the  latter  remained  on  the 
shores  of  the  South  Sea  with  his  brigan  tines,  and 
his  band  of  hearty  and  devoted  followers,  Pedra- 
rias knew  it  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  take 

1  In  consequence  of  the  eloquent  representations  made  to 
the  Spanish  government  by  the  venerable  Las  Casas,  of  the 
cruel  wrongs  and  oppressions  practiced  upon  the  Indians  in 
the  colonies,  the  Cardinal  Ximenes,  in  1516,  sent  out  three 
Jeronimite  Friars,  chosen  for  their  zeal  and  abilities,  clothed 
with  full  powers  to  inquire  into  and  remedy  all  abuses,  and  to 
Jake  all  proper  measures  for  the  good  government,  religious 
instruction,  and  effectual  protection  of  the  natives.  The  ex- 
ercise of  their  powers  at  San  Domingo  made  a  great  sensation 
m  the  New  World,  and,  for  a  time,  had  a  beneficial  etfect  in 
checking  the  oppressive  and  licentious  conduct  of  the  colo- 
nists. 


276       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


liim  by  force.  Dissembling  his  suspicions  and 
intentions,  therefore,  he  wrote  to  him  in  amicable 
terms,  requesting  him  to  repair  immediately  to 
Ada,  as  he  wished  to  confer  with  him  about  the 
impending  expedition.  Fearing,  however,  that 
Vasco  Nunez  might  suspect  his  motives,  and 
refuse  to  comply,  he  at  the  same  time  ordered 
Francisco  Pizarro  to  muster  all  the  armed  force 
he  could  collect,  and  seek  and  arrest  his  late 
patron  and  commander  wherever  he  might  be 
found. 

So  great  was  the  terror  inspired  by  the  arrest 
of  Arguello,  and  by  the  general  violence  of  Pe- 
drarias,  that,  though  Vasco  Nunez  was  a  favorite 
with  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  no  one 
ventured  to  warn  him  of  the  danger  that  attended 
his  return  to  Ada. 


CHAPTER  XXVIL 

VASCO  NUNEZ  AND  THE  ASTROLOGER.  —  HIS  RETURN  TO 
ACLA. 

The  old  Spanish  writers  who  have  treated  of 
the  fortunes  of  Yasco  Nunez,  record  an  anecdote 
which  is  worthy  of  being  cited,  as  characteristic 
of  the  people  and  the  age.  Among  the  motley 
crowd  of  adventurers  lured  across  the  ocean  by 
the  reputed  \vealth  and  wonders  of  the  New 
World,  was  an  Italian  astrologer,  a  native  of 
Venice  named  Micer  Codro.     At  the  time  that 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  Til 

Vasco  Nunez  held  supreme  sway  at  Darien,  this 
reader  of  the  stars  had  east  his  horoscope  and 
pretended  to  foretell  his  destiny.  Pointing  oug 
night  to  a  certain  star,  he  assured  him  that  in  tho 
year  in  which  he  should  behold  that  star  in  a  part 
of  the  heavens  wliich  he  designated,  his  Hfe  would 
be  in  imminent  jeopardy ;  but  should  he  survive 
this  year  of  peril,  he  would  become  the  richest 
and  most  renowned  captain  throughout  the  Indies. 

Several  years,  it  is  added,  had  elapsed  since 
this  prediction  was  made  ;  yet,  that  it  still  dwelt 
in  the  mind  of  Vasco  Nunez,  was  evident  from 
the  following  circumstance.  While  waiting  the 
return  of  his  messenger,  Garabito,  he  was  on  the 
shore  of  Isla  Rica  one  serene  evening,  in  com- 
pany with  some  of  liis  officers,  when,  regarding 
the  heavens,  he  beheld  the  fated  star  exactly  in 
that  part  of  the  firmament  which  had  been 
pointed  out  by  the  Italian  astrologer.  Turning 
to  his  companions,  with  a  smile,  "  Behold,"  said 
he,  "  the  wisdom  of  those  who  believe  in  sooth- 
sayers, and,  above  all,  in  such  an  astrologer  as 
Micer  Codro !  According  to  his  prophecy,  I 
should  now  be  in  imminent  peril  of  my  life ;  yet, 
here  I  am,  within  reach  of  all  my  wishes  ;  sound 
in  health,  with  four  brigantines  and  three  hundred 
men  at  my  command,  and  on  the  point  of  explor- 
ing this  great  southern  ocean." 

At  this  fated  juncture,  say  the  chroniclers,  ar- 
rived tlie  hypocritical  letter  of  Pedrarias,  inviting 
him  to  an  interview  at  Ada !  The  discreet  reader 
iviil  decide  for  himself  what  credit  to  give  to  thia 
anecdote,  or  rather,  what  allowance  to  make  foi 


278       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

the  little  traits  of  coincidence  gratuitously  added 
to  the  original  fact  by  writers  who  delight  in  the 
marvelous.  The  tenor  of  this  letter  awakened 
no  suspicion  in  the  breast  of  Vasco  Nunez,  who 
reposed  entire  confidence  in  the  amity  of  the  gov- 
ernor, as  his  intended  father-in-law,  and  appeals 
to  have  been  unconscious  of  anything  in  his  own 
conduct  that  could  warrant  hostility.  Leaving 
his  ships  in  command  of  Francisco  Companon,  he 
departed  immediately  to  meet  the  governor  at 
Ada,  unattended  by  any  armed  force. 

The  messengers  who  had  brought  the  letter, 
maintained  at  first  a  cautious  silence  as  to  the 
events  which  had  transpired  at  Darien.  They 
were  gradually  won,  however,  by  the  frank  and  ge- 
nial manners  of  Vasco  Nunez,  and  grieved  to  see  so 
gallant  a  soldier  hurrying  into  the  snare.  Having 
crossed  the  mountains,  and  drawn  near  to  Ada, 
their  kind  feelings  got  the  better  of  their  caution, 
and  they  revealed  the  true  nature  of  their  errand, 
and  the  hostile  intentions  of  Pedrarias.  Vasco 
Nunez  was  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  reci- 
tal ;  but,  being  unconscious,  it  is  said,  of  any  evil 
intention,  he  could  scarcely  credit  this  sudden 
hostility  in  a  man  who  had  but  recently  promised 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  He  imagined  the 
whole  to  be  some  groundless  jealousy,  which  his 
own  appearance  would  dispel,  and  accordingly 
continued  on  his  journey.  He  had  not  proceeded 
far,  however,  when  he  was  met  by  a  band  of 
armed  men,  led  by  Francisco  Pizarro.  The  lat- 
ter stepped  forward  to  arrest  his  ancient  com« 
mandor.    Vasco  Nunez  paused  for  a  moment,  and 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  279 


regarded  him  with  a  look  of  reproachful  astonish- 
ment. "  How  is  this,  Francisco  ?  "  exclaimed  he. 
"  Is  this  the  way  you  have  been  accustomed  to 
receive  me  ?  "  Offering  no  further  remonstrance, 
he  suffered  himself  quietly  to  be  taken  prisoner 
by  his  former  adherents,  and  conducted  in  chains 
to  Ada.  Here  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  and 
Bartolome  Hurtado,  once  his  favorite  officer,  was 
sent  to  take  command  of  his  squadron. 


CHAPTER  XXVin. 

TRIAL  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ. 

Don  Pedr arias  concealed  liis  exultation  at 
the  success  of  the  stratagem  by  which  he  had  en- 
snared his  generous  and  confiding  rival.  He  even 
visited  him  in  prison,  and  pretended  deep  concern 
at  being  obliged  to  treat  him  with  this  temporary 
rigor,  attributing  it  entirely  to  certain  accusations 
lodged  against  him  by  the  treasurer,  Alonzo  de 
la  Puente,  which  his  official  situation  compelled 
him  to  notice  and  investigate. 

"  Be  not  afflicted,  however,  my  son  ! "  said  the 
hypocrite ;  "  an  investigation  will,  doubtless,  not 
merely  establish  your  innocence,  but  serve  to  ren- 
der your  zeal  and  loyalty  toward  your  sovereign 
^till  more  conspicuous." 

While  Pedrarias  assumed  this  soothing  tone  to- 
wards his  prisoner,  he  urged  the  alcalde  mayor, 


280       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Espinosa,  to  proceed  against  him  with  the  utmost 
rigor  of  the  law. 

The  charge  brought  against  him  of  a  treason- 
able conspiracy  to  cast  off  all  allegiance  to  tho 
crown,  and  to  assume  an  independent  sway  on  the 
borders  of  the  southern  sea,  was  principally  sup* 
ported  by  the  confessions  of  Andres  Garabito. 
The  evidence  is  also  cited  of  a  soldier,  who  stood 
sentinel  one  night  near  the  quarters  of  Vasco 
Nunez  on  Isla  Rica,  and  who,  being  driven  to  take 
shelter  from  the  rain  under  the  eaves  of  this  house, 
overheard  a  conversation  between  that  commander 
and  certain  of  his  officers,  wherein  they  agreed  to 
put  to  sea  with  the  squadron  on  their  own  account, 
and  set  the  governor  at  defiance.  This  testimony, 
according  to  Las  Casas,  arose  from  a  misconstruc- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  sentinel,  who  only  heard  a 
portion  of  their  conversation,  relating  to  their  in- 
tention of  sailing  without  waiting  for  orders,  m 
case  a  new  governor  should  arrive  to  supersede 
Pedrarias. 

The  governor,  in  the  mean  time,  informed  l.irn- 
self  from  day  to  day,  and  hour  to  hour,  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  trial ;  and,  considering  the  evidence 
sufficiently  strong  to  warrant  his  personal  hostility, 
he  now  paid  another  visit  to  his  prisoner,  and 
throwing  off  all  affectation  of  kindness,  upbraided 
him  in  the  most  passionate  manner. 

"  Hitherto,"  said  he,  "  I  have  treated  you  as  a 
son,  because  I  thought  you  loyal  to  your  king,  and 
to  me  as  his  representative ;  but  as  I  find  you 
have  meditated  rebellion  against  the  crown  of 
Castile,  I  cast  you  off  from  my  affection,  and  shall 
henceforth  treat  you  as  an  enemy." 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  281 


Vasco  Nunez  indignantly  repelled  tlie  charge, 
and  appealed  to  the  conMing  frankness  of  liis  con 
duct  as  a  proof  of  his  innocence,  "  Had  I  been 
conscious  of  my  guilt,"  said  he,  "  what  could  have 
induced  me  to  come  here  and  put  myself  into  your 
hands  ?  Had  I  meditated  rebellion,  what  pre- 
vented me  from  carrying  it  into  effect  ?  I  had  four 
ships  ready  to  weigh  anchor,  three  hundred  brave 
men  at  my  command,  and  an  open  sea  before  me. 
What  had  I  to  do  but  to  spread  sail  and  press 
forward  ?  There  was  no  doubt  of  finding  a  land, 
whether  rich  or  poor,  sufficient  for  me  and  mine, 
far  beyond  the  reach  of  your  control.  In  the 
innocence  of  my  heart,  however,  I  came  here 
promptly,  at  your  mere  request,  and  my  reward 
is  slander,  indignity,  and  chains  ! " 

The  noble  and  ingenuous  appeal  of  Vasco 
Nunez  had  no  effect  on  the  prejudiced  feelings  of 
the  governor :  on  the  contrary,  he  was  but  the 
more  exasperated  against  his  prisoner,  and  ordered 
that  his  irons  should  be  doubled. 

The  trial  was  now  urged  by  him  with  increased 
eagerness.  Lest  the  present  accusation  should  not 
be  sufficient  to  effect  the  ruin  of  his  victim,  the 
old  inquest  into  his  conduct  as  governor,  which 
had  remained  suspended  for  many  years,  was  re- 
vived, and  he  was  charged  anew  with  the  wrongs 
infficted  on  the  Bachelor  Enciso,  and  with  the 
death  of  the  unfortunate  Nicuesa. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  charges,  the  trial  went 
on  slowly,  with  frequent  delays,  for  the  alcalde 
mayor,  Gaspar  de  Espiuosa,  seems  to  have  had 
but  little  relish  for  the  task  assigned  him,  and  to 


282       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


have  needed  frequent  spurring  from  the  eager  and 
passionate  governor.  He  probably  considered  the 
accused  as  technically  guilty,  though  innocent  of 
all  intentional  rebellion,  but  was  ordered  to  decide 
according  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law.  He  there- 
fore, at  length,  gave  a  reluctant  verdict  against 
Vasco  Nunez,  but  recommended  him  to  mercy,  on 
account  of  his  great  services,  or  entreated  that,  at 
least,  he  might  be  permitted  to  appeal.  "No," 
said  the  unrelenting  Pedrarias  ;  "  if  he  has  merited 
death,  let  him  suffer  death!"  He  accordingly 
condemned  him  to  be  beheaded.  The  same  sen- 
tence was  passed  upon  several  of  his  officers,  who 
were  implicated  in  his  alleged  conspiracy ;  among 
these  was  Hernando  de  Arguello,  who  had  written 
the  letter  to  Vasco  Nunez,  informing  him  of  the 
arrest  of  his  messenger,  and  advising  him  to  put 
to  sea,  vrithout  heeding  the  hostility  of  Pedrarias. 
As  to  the  perfidious  informer  Garabito,  he  was 
pardoned  and  set  at  liberty. 

In  considering  this  case  as  far  as  we  are  enabled, 
from  the  imperfect  testimony  on  record,  we  arc 
inclined  to  think  it  one  w^here  passion  and  self- 
interest  interfered  with  the  pure  administration  of 
justice.  Pedrarias  had  always  considered  Vasco 
Nunez  as  a  dangerous  rival,  and,  though  his  jeal- 
ousy had  been  for  some  time  lulled  b}^  looking  on 
liim  as  an  intended  son-in-law,  it  was  revived  by 
the  suggestion  that  he  intended  to  evade  his  alli- 
ance and  dispute  his  authority.  His  exasperated 
feelings  hurried  him  too  far  to  retreat,  and,  having 
loaded  his  prisoner  with  chains  and  indignities,  hia 
death  became  indispensable  to  his  ov^  tccarity 


THK  COMPAiVlOyS  OF   COLUMBUS.  283 


For  our  owu  part,  we  have  little  doubt  that  it 
was  the  fixed  intention  of  Vasco  Nunez,  after  he 
had  once  succeeded  in  the  arduous  undertaking  of 
transporting  his  ships  across  the  mountains,  to 
euiFer  no  capricious  order  from  Pedrarias,  nor  any 
other  governor,  to  defeat  the  enterprise  which  he 
had  so  long  meditated,  and  for  which  he  had  so 
laboriously  prepared.  It  is  probable  he  may  have 
expressed  such  general  determination  in  the  hear- 
ing of  Garabito,  and  of  others  of  his  companions. 
We  can  find  ample  excuse  for  such  a  resolution 
in  his  consciousness  of  his  own  deserts ;  his  ex- 
perience of  past  hinderances  to  this  expedition, 
arising  from  the  jealousy  of  others  ;  his  feeling  of 
some  degree  of  authority,  from  his  office  of  ade- 
lantado ;  and  his  knowledge  of  the  favorable  dis- 
position and  kind  intentions  of  his  sovereign  to- 
wards him.  We  acquit  liim  entirely  of  the  sense- 
less idea  of  rebelling  against  the  crown ;  and  sug- 
gest these  considerations  in  palliation  of  any  med- 
itated disobedience  of  Pedrarias,  should  such  a 
charge  be  supposed  to  have  been  substantiated. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

EXECUTION  OF  VASCO  NUNEZ. 
[1517.] 

It  was  a  day  of  gloom  and  horror  at  Ada, 
when  Vasco  Nunez  and  his  companions  were  led 


284       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


forth  to  execution.  The  populace  were  moved  to 
tears  at  the  unhappy  fate  of  a  man,  whose  gallant 
deeds  had  excited  their  admiration,  and  whose 
generous  qualities  had  won  their  hearts.  Most 
of  them  regarded  him  as  the  victim  of  a  jealous 
tyrant ;  and  even  those  who  thought  him  guilty, 
saw  something  brave  and  brilliant  in  the  very 
crime  imputed  to  him.  Such,  however,  was  the 
general  dread  inspired  by  the  severe  measures  of 
Pedi-arias,  that  no  one  dared  to  lift  up  his  voice, 
either  in  murmur  or  remonstrance. 

The  public  crier  walked  before  Vasco  Nunez, 
proclaiming  :  "  This  is  the  punishment  inflicted 
by  command  of  the  king  and  his  lieutenant,  Don 
Pedrarias  Davila,  on  this  man,  as  a  traitor  and 
an  usurper  of  the  territories  of  the  crown." 

When  Vasco  Nunez  heard  these  words,  he  ex- 
claimed, indignantly,  "  It  is  false  !  never  did  such 
a  crime  enter  my  mind.  I  have  ever  served  my 
king  with  truth  and  loyalty,  and  sought  to  aug- 
ment his  dominions." 

These  words  were  of  no  avail  in  his  extremity, 
but  they  were  fully  believed  by  the  populace. 

The  execution  took  place  in  the  public  square 
of  Ada  ;  and  we  are  assured  by  the  historian 
Oviedo,  who  was  in  the  colony  at  the  time,  that 
the  cruel  Pedrarias  was  a  secret  witness  of  the 
bloody  spectacle ;  which  he  contemplated  from 
between  the  reeds  of  the  wall  of  a  house,  about 
twelve  paces  from  the  scaffold  !  ^ 

Vasco  Nunez  was  the  first  to  suffer  death. 
Having  confessed  himself  and  partaken  of  th^  sac* 
1  Oviedo,  Hist.  Ind.,  p.  2,  cap  9,  MS. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  285 


rament,  he  ascended  the  scaffold  with  a  firm  step 
and  a  cahn  and  manly  demeanor ;  and,  laying 
his  head  upon  the  block,  it  was  severed  in  an  in- 
stant from  his  body.  Three  of  his  officers,  Val- 
derrabano,  Botello,  and  ITernan  Munos,  were  iu 
like  manner  brought  one  by  one  to  the  block, 
and  the  day  had  nearly  expired  before  the  last  of 
them  was  executed. 

One  victim  still  remained.  It  was  Hernando 
de  Arguello,  who  had  been  condemned  as  an  ac- 
complice, for  having  written  the  intercepted  let- 
ter. 

The  populace  could  no  longer  restrain  their 
feelings.  They  had  not  dared  to  intercede  for 
Vasco  Nunez,  knowing  the  implacable  enmity  of 
Pedrarias ;  but  they  now  sought  the  governor, 
and,  throwing  themselves  at  his  feet,  entreated 
that  this  man  might  be  spared,  as  he  had  taken 
no  active  part  in  the  alleged  treason.  The  day- 
light, they  said,  was  at  an  end,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  God  had  hastened  the  night  to  prevent  the  ex- 
ecution. 

The  stern  heart  of  Pedrarias  was  not  to  be 
touched.  "  No,"  said  he,  "  I  would  sooner  die 
myself  than  spare  one  of  them. "  The  unfortu- 
nate Arguello  was  led  to  the  block.  The  brief 
tropical  twilight  was  past,  and  in  the  gathering 
gloom  of  the  night,  the  operations  on  the  scaffold 
could  not  be  distinguished.  The  multitude  stood 
listening  in  breathless  silence,  until  the  stroke  of 
the  executioner  told  that  all  was  accomplished. 
They  then  dispersed  to  their  homes  with  hearts 
filled  with  grief  and  bitterness,  and  a  night  of 
limentation  succeeded  to  this  day  of  horrors. 


286     VOYAGES  AND  DlSCOVEEIESy  ETC. 


The  vengeance  of  Pedrarias  was  not  satis 'led 
with  the  death  of  his  victim ;  he  confiscated  his 
property  and  dishonored  his  remains,  causing  his 
head  to  be  placed  upon  a  pole,  and  exposed  for 
several  days  in  the  public  square.^ 

Thus  perished,  in  his  forty-second  year,  in  the 
prime  and  vigor  of  his  days,  and  the  foil  career 
of  his  glory,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  and  de- 
serving of  Spanish  discoverers ;  a  victim  to  the 
basest  and  most  perfidious  envy. 

How  vain  are  our  most  confident  hopes,  our 
brightest  triumphs  !  When  Yasco  Nunez  from 
the  mountains  of  Darien  beheld  the  Southern 
Ocean  revealed  to  his  gaze,  he  considered  its  un- 
known realms  at  his  disposal.  When  he  had 
launched  his  ships  upon  its  waters,  and  his  sails 
were  in  a  mannei^  flapping  in  the  wind,  to  bear 
him  in  quest  of  the  wealthy  empire  of  Peru,  he 
scoffed  at  the  prediction  of  the  astrologer,  and  de- 
fied the  influence  of  the  stars.  Behold  him  in- 
terrupted at  the  very  moment  of  his  departure, 
betrayed  into  the  hands  of  iiis  most  invidious  foe, 
the  very  enterprise  that  was  to  have  crowned 
him  with  glory  wrested  into  a  crime,  and  himself 
hurried  to  a  bloody  and  ignominious  grave  at  the 
foot,  as  it  were,  of  the  mountain  whence  he  had 
made  his  discovery !  His  fate,  like  that  of  his 
renowned  predecessor,  Columbus,  proves  tha  it 
is  sometimes  dangerous  even  to  deserve  ti>o 
greatly. 

1  Oviedo,  ubi  sup. 


FOETUNES  OP  VALDIVIA  AND  HIS  COMPAN- 
IONS. 


T  was  in  the  year  1512  that  Valdivia, 
the  regidor  of  Darien,  was  sent  to  His- 
paniola  by  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  for 
reinforcements  and  supplies  for  the  colony.  He 
set  sail  in  a  caravel,  and  pursued  his  voyage 
prosperously  until  he  arrived  in  sight  of  the 
island  of  Jamaica.  Here  he  was  encountered  by 
one  of  the  violent  hurricanes  which  sweep  those 
latitudes,  and  driven  on  the  shoals  and  sunken 
rocks  called  the  Yipers,  since  infamous  for  many 
a  shipwreck.  His  vessel  soon  went  to  pieces, 
and  Valdivia  and  his  crew,  consisting  of  twenty 
men,  escaped  with  difficulty  in  a  boat,  without 
having  time  to  secure  a  supply  either  of  water  or 
provisions.  Having  no  sails,  and  their  oars  being 
scarcely  fit  for  use,  they  were  driven  about  for 
thirteen  days,  at  the  mercy  of  the  currents  of 
those  unknown  seas.  During  this  time  their 
sufferings  from  hunger  and  thirst  were  indescri- 
bable. Seven  of  their  number  perished,  and  the 
rest  were  nearly  famished,  when  they  were 
Btranded  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Yucatan,  in  a 
province  called  Maya.  Here  they  were  sot  upon 
by  the  natives,  who  broke  their  boat  in  pieces. 


288       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


and  carried  them  ofF  captive  to  the  cacique  of  the 
pioviiice,  by  whose  orders  they  were  mewed  up 
in  a  kind  of  pen. 

At  first  their  situation  appeared  tolerable 
eiiough,  considering  the  horrors  from  which  they 
had  escaped.  They  were  closely  confined,  it  is 
true,  but  they  had  plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  and 
60on  began  to  recover  flesh  and  vigor.  In  a 
little  while,  however,  their  enjoyment  of  this 
good  cheer  met  with  a  sudden  check,  for  the  un- 
fortunate Valdivia,  and  four  of  his  companions, 
were  singled  out  by  the  cacique,  on  account  of 
their  improved  condition,  to  be  offered  up  to  his 
idols.  The  natives  of  this  coast,  in  fact,  were 
cannibals,  devouring  the  flesh  of  their  enemies, 
and  of  such  strangers  as  fell  into  their  hands. 
The  wretched  Valdivia  and  his  fellow  victims, 
therefore,  were  sacrificed  in  the  bloody  temple  of 
the  idol,  and  their  limbs  were  afterwards  served 
up  at  a  grand  feast  held  by  the  cacique  and  his 
subjects. 

The  horror  of  the  survivors  may  be  more 
readily  imagined  than  described.  Their  hearts 
died  within  them  when  they  heard  the  yells  and 
bowlings  of  the  savages  over  their  victims,  and 
the  still  more  horrible  revelry  of  their  cannibal 
orgies,  They  turned  with  loathing  from  the 
food  set  so  abundantly  before  them,  at  the  idea 
that  it  was  but  intended  to  fatten  them  for  a 
future  banquet. 

Ilecovering  from  the  first  stupor  of  alarm, 
their  despair  lent  them  additional  force.  They 
succeeded  in  breaking  in  the  night  from  the  kind 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  289 


oi  cage  in  which  they  were  confined,  and  fled  to 
the  depths  of  the  forest.  Here  they  wandered 
about  forlorn,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  and 
miseries  of  the  wilderness ;  famishing  with 
hunger,  yet  dreading  to  approach  the  haunts  of 
men.  At  length  their  sufferings  drove  them 
forth  from  th^  woods  into  another  part  of  the 
country,  where  they  were  again  taken  captive. 
The  cacique  of  this  province,  however,  was  an 
enemy  to  the  one  from  whom  they  had  escaped, 
and  of  less  cruel  propensities.  He  spared  their 
lives,  and  contented  himself  with  making  them 
slaves,  exacting  from  them  the  severest  labor. 
They  had  to  cut  and  draw  wood,  to  procure 
water  from  a  distance,  and  to  carry  enormous 
burdens.  The  cacique  died  soon  after  their 
capture,  and  was  succeeded  by  another  called 
Taxmar.  He  was  a  chief  of  some  talent  and 
sagacity,  but  he  continued  the  same  rigorous 
treatment  of  the  captives.  By  degrees  they 
sank  beneath  the  hardships  of  their  lot,  until 
only  two  were  left ;  one  of  them,  a  sturdy  sailor, 
named  Gonzalo  Guerrero,  the  other  a  kind  of 
clerical  adventurer,  named  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar. 
The  sailor  had  the  good  luck  to  be  transferred  to 
the  service  of  the  cacique  of  the  neighboring 
province  of  Chatemal,  by  w^iom  he  w^as  treated 
with  kindness.  Beino-  a  thoroug^h  son  of  the 
ocean,  seasoned  to  all  weathers,  and  ready  for 
any  chance  or  change,  he  soon  accommodated 
himself  to  his  new  situation,  followed  the  cacique 
to  the  wars,  rose  by  his  hardihood  and  prowess 
to  be  a  distinguished  warrior,  and  succeeded  iu 
VOL.  in.  19 


290 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


gaining  the  heart  and  hand  of  an  Indian  prin* 
cess. 

The  other  survivor,  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar,  was 
of  a  different  complexion.  He  was  a  native  of 
Ecija,  in  Andalusia,  and  had  been  brought  up  to 
the  church,  and  regularly  ordained,  and  shortly 
afterwards  had  sailed  in  one  of  the  expeditions 
to  San  Domingo,  whence  he  had  passed  to 
Darien. 

He  proceeded  in  a  different  mode  from  that 
adopted  by  his  comrade,  the  sailor,  in  his  deal- 
ings with  the  Indians,  and  in  one  more  suited  to 
his  opposite  calling.  Instead  of  playing  the  hero 
among  the  men,  and  the  gallant  among  the 
women,  he  recollected  his  priestly  obligations  to 
humility  and  chastity.  Accordingly,  he  made 
himself  a  model  of  meekness  and  obedience  to 
the  cacique  and  his  warriors,  while  he  closed  his 
eyes  to  the  charms  of  the  infidel  women.  Nay, 
in  the  latter  respect,  he  reinforced  his  clerical 
vows  by  a  solemn  promise  to  God  to  resist  all 
temptations  of  the  flesh,  so  he  might  be  delivered 
out  of  the  hands  of  these  Gentiles. 

Such  were  the  opposite  measures  of  the  sailor 
and  the  saint,  and  they  appear  to  have  been 
equally  successful.  Aguilar,  by  his  meek  obe- 
dience to  every  order,  however  arbitrary  and  ca- 
pricious, gradually  won  the  good  will  of  the 
cacique  and  his  family.  Taxmar,  however,  sub- 
jected him  to  many  trials  before  he  admitted  him 
to  his  entire  confidence.  One  day  when  the 
Indians,  painted  and  decorated  in  warlike  style, 
were  shooting  at  a  mark,  a  warrior,  who  had  for 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  291 


Bome  time  fixed  bis  eyes  on  Aguilar,  approached 
sucWenly,  and  seized  iiim  by  tlie  arm.  "  Thou 
seest,"  said  be,  "  the  certainty  of  these  archers ; 
if  they  aim  at  the  eye,  they  bit  the  eye  —  if  at 
the  mouth,  they  bit  the  mouth  —  what  wouldst 
thou  think,  if  thou  wert  to  be  placed  instead  of 
the  mark,  and  they  were  to  shoot  at  and  miss 
thee?" 

Aguilar  secretly  trembled  lest  he  should  be 
the  victim  of  some  cruel  caprice  of  the  kind. 
Dissembling  his  fears,  however,  he  replied  with 
great  submission,  "  I  am  your  slave,  and  you 
may  do  with  me  as  you  please ;  but  you  are  too 
wise  to  destroy  a  slave  who  is  so  useful  and 
obedient."  His  answer  pleased  the  cacique,  who 
had  secretly  sent  his  warrior  to  try  his  humility. 

Another  tria,l  of  the  worthy  Jeronimo  was  less 
stern  and  fearful  indeed,  but  equally  perplexing. 
The  cacique  had  remarked  his  unexampled  dis- 
cretion with  respect  to  the  sex,  but  doubted  his 
sincerity.  After  laying  many  petty  temptations 
in  his  way,  which  Jeronimo  resisted  with  the 
self-denial  of  a  saint,  he  at  length  determined  to 
subject  him  to  a  fiery  ordeal.  He  accordingly 
sent  him  on  a  fishing  expedition,  accompanied  by 
a  buxom  damsel  of  fourteen  years  of  age :  they 
were  to  pass  the  night  by  the  sea-side,  so  as  to  be 
ready  to  fish  at  the  first  dawn  of  day,  and  were 
allowed  but  one  hammock  to  sleep  in.  It  was  an 
embarrassing  predicament  —  not  apparently  to 
tlie  Indian  beauty,  but  certainly  to  the  scrupulous 
Jeronimo.  He  remembered,  however,  his  double 
vow,  and,  suspending  his  hammock  to  two  trees, 


292        VOYACES  AND  DISCOVEkiES  OF 


resigned  it  to  his  companion;  wbile,  lighting  a 
fire  on  the  sea-shore,  he  stretched  hims^^lf  before 
it  on  the  sand.  It  was,  as  he  acknowledged,  a 
night  of  fearful  trial,  for  his  sandy  couch  was 
cold  and  cheerless,  the  hammock  warm  and 
tempting ;  and  the  infidel  damsel  had  been  in- 
structed to  assail  him  with  all  manner  of  blan- 
dishments and  reproaches.  His  resolution,  how- 
ever, though  often  shaken,  was  never  overcome ; 
and  the  morning  dawned  upon  him  still  faithful 
to  his  vow. 

The  fishing  over,  he  returned  to  the  residence 
of  the  cacique,  w^here  his  companion  being  closely 
questioned,  made  known  the  triumph  of  his  self- 
denial  before  all  the  people.  From  that  time 
forward  he  was  held  in  great  respect ;  the 
cacique  especially  treated  him  with  unlimited 
confidence,  intrusting  to  him  the  care,  not  merely 
of  his  house,  but  of  his  wives,  during  his  occa- 
sional absence. 

Aguilar  now  felt  ambitious  of  rising  to  greater 
consequence  among  the  sp.vages,  but  this  he  knew 
was  only  to  be  done  by  deeds  of  arms.  He  had 
the  example  of  the  sturdy  seaman,  Gonzalo 
Guerrero,  before  his  eyes,  who  had  become  a 
great  captain  in  the  province  in  which  he  resided. 
He  entreated  Taxmar,  therefore,  to  intrust  him 
with  bow  and  arrows,  buckler  and  war-club,  and 
to  enroll  him  among  his  warriors.  The  cacique 
complied.  Aguilar  soon  made  himself  expert  at 
his  new  weapons,  signalized  himself  repeatedly  in 
battle,  and,  from  his  superior  knowledge  of  the 
arts  of  war,  rendered   Taxmar  such  essentia] 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  293 


service  as  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  some  of  tlie 
neighboring  caciques.  One  of  them  remonstrated 
with  Taxmar  for  employing  a  warrior  who  was 
of  a  different  religion,  and  insisted  that  Aguilar 
should  be  sacrificed  to  their  gods.  "  No,"  replied 
TaxDiar,  "  I  will  not  make  so  base  a  return  for 
Bucb  signal  services :  surely  the  gods  of  Aguilar 
mmt  be  good,  since  they  aid  him  so  effectually 
in  TTjaintaining  a  just  cause." 

The  cacique  was  so  incensed  at  this  reply,  that 
he  assembled  his  warriors  and  marched  to  make 
war  upon  Taxmar.  Many  of  the  counsellors  of 
the  latter  urged  him  to  give  up  the  stranger  who 
was  the  cause  of  his  hostility.  Taxmar,  however, 
rejected  their  counsel  with  disdain,  and  prepared 
for  battle.  Aguilar  assured  him  that  his  faith  in 
the  Christians'  God  would  be  rewarded  with  vic- 
tory ;  he,  in  fact,  concerted  a  plan  of  battle, 
which  was  adopted.  Concealing  himself,  with  a 
chosen  band  of  warriors,  among  thickets  and  her- 
bage, he  suffered  the  enemy  to  pass  by  in  making 
their  attack.  Taxmar  and  his  host  pretended  to 
give  way  at  the  first  onset.  The  foe  rushed 
heedlessly  in  pursuit ;  whereupon  Aguilar  and 
his  ambuscade  assaulted  them  in  the  rear.  Tax- 
mar turned  upon  them  in  front;  they  were 
thrown  into  confusion,  routed  with  great,  slaugh- 
ter, and  many  of  their  chiefs  taken  prisoners. 
This  victory  gave  Taxmar  the  sway  over  the 
^and,  and  strengthened  Aguilar  more  than  ever 
m  his  good  graces. 

Several  years  had  elapsed  in  this  manner,  when 
uitelligence  was  brought  to  the  province  of  the 


294       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Rrrival  on  the  neighboring  coast  of  great  vessels 
of  wonderful  construction,  filled  with  white  and 
bearded  men,  who  fought  with  tliunder  and  h'ght- 
ning.  It  was,  in  fact,  tlie  squadron  of  Francisco 
Hernandez  de  Cordova,  then  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery. The  tidings  of  this  strange  invasion 
spread  consternation  through  the  country,  heigh- 
tened, if  we  may  credit  the  old  Spanish  writers, 
by  a  prophecy  current  among  the  savages  of 
these  parts,  and  uttered  in  former  times  by  a 
priest  named  Chilam  Cambal,  who  foretold  that 
a  white  and  bearded  people  would  come  from 
the  region  of  the  rising  sun,  who  would  overturn 
their  idols,  and  subjugate  the  land. 

The  heart  of  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  beat  quick 
with  hope  when  he  hpard  of  European  ships  at 
hand ;  he  was  distant  from  the  coast,  however, 
and  perceived  that  he  was  too  closely  watched 
by  the  Indians  to  have  any  chance  of  escape. 
Dissembling  his  feelings,  therefore,  he  affected  to 
hear  of  the  ships  with  perfect  indifference,  and 
to  have  no  desire  to  join  the  strangers.  The 
ships  disappeared  from  the  coast,  and  he  remained 
disconsolate  at  heart,  but  was  regarded  with  in- 
creased confidence  by  the  natives. 

His  hopes  were  again  revived  in  the  course 
of  a  year  or  two  by  the  arrival  on  the  coast  of 
other  ships,  which  were  those  commanded  by 
Juan  de  Grijalva,  who  coasted  Yucatan  in  1518 ; 
Aguilar,  however,  was  again  prevented  by  the 
jealous  watchfulness  of  the  Indians  from  at- 
tempting his  escape,  and  when  this  squadron  left 
the  coast  he  considered  all  chance  of  deliverance 
at  an  end. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS, 


295 


Seven  years  bad  gone  by  since  bis  capture, 
and  be  bad  given  up  all  bopes  of  being  restored 
to  bis  country  and  friends,  when,  in  1519,  tliere 
arrived  one  day  at  tbe  vilUige  tbree  Indians,  na- 
tives of  tbe  small  island  of  Cozumel,  wbicb  lies  a 
few  leagues  in  tbe  sea,  opposite  tbe  eastern  coast 
of  Yucatan.  Tbey  brougbt  tidings  of  another 
visit  of  white  and  bearded  men  to  their  shores, 
and  one  of  them  delivered  a  letter  to  Aguilar, 
which,  being  entirely  naked,  he  had  concealed  in 
the  long  tres-es  of  his  hair  which  were  bound 
round  his  head. 

Aguilar  received  tbe  letter  with  wonder  and 
delight,  and  i-ead  it  in  presence  of  the  cacique 
and  his  warriors.  It  proved  to  be  from  Hernando 
Cortez,  who  was  at  that  time  on  his  great  expe- 
dition, which  ended  in  tbe  conquest  of  Mexico. 
He  had  been  obliged  by  stress  of  weather,  to  an- 
chor at  the  island  of  Cozumel,  where  he  learned 
from  die  natives  that  several  white  men  were  en- 
tertained in  captivity  among  the  Indians  on  the 
neighboring  coast  of  Yucatan.  Finding  it  im- 
possible to  approach  ihe  main-land  with  his  ships, 
he  prevailed  upon  three  of  tbe  islanders,  by 
means  of  gifts  and  promises,  to  venture  upon  an 
embassy  among  their  cannibal  neighbors,  and  to 
convey  a  letter  to  the  captive  white  men.  Two 
of  the  smallest  caravels  of  the  squadron  were 
sent  under  tbe  command  of  Diego  de  Ordas,  who 
was  ordered  to  land  the  three  messengers  at  the 
point  of  Cotoche,  and  to  wait  there  eight  days  for 
*heir  return. 

The  letter  brought  by  these  envoys  informed 


296       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


the  Christian  captives  of  the  force  and  destina- 
tion of  the  squadron  of  Cortez,  and  of  his  hav- 
ing sent  the  caravels  to  wait  for  them  tt  the 
point  of  Cotoche,  with  a  ransom  for  their  deliv- 
erance, inviting  them  to  hasten  and  join  him  at 
Cozumel. 

The  transport  of  Aguilar  on  first  reading  the 
letter,  was  moderated  when  he  reflected  on  the 
obstacles  that  might  prevent  him  from  profiting 
by  this  chance  of  deliverance.  He  had  made 
himself  too  useful  to  the  cacique  to  hope  that  he 
would  readily  give  him  his  liberty,  and  he  knew 
the  jealous  and  irritable  nature  of  the  savages 
too  w^ell,  not  to  fear  that  even  an  application  for 
leave  to  depart  might  draw  upon  him  the  sever- 
est treatment.  He  endeavored,  therefore,  to 
operate  upon  the  cacique  through  his  apprehen- 
sions. To  this  end  he  informed  him  that  the  piece 
of  paper  which  he  held  in  his  hand  brought  him 
a  full  account  of  the  mighty  armament  that  had 
arrived  on  the  coast.  He  described  the  number 
of  ships  and  various  particulars  concerning  the 
squadron,  all  of  which  were  amply  corroborated 
by  the  testimony  of  the  messengers.  The  ca- 
cique and  his  warriors  were  astonished  at  this 
strange  mode  of  conveying  intelligence  from  a 
distance,  and  regarded  the  letter  as  something 
mysterious  and  supernatural.  Aguilar  went  on 
to  relate  the  tremendous  and  superhuman  powers 
of  the  people  in  these  ships,  who,  armed  with 
thunder  and  lighlhing,  wreaked  destruction  on 
all  who  displeased  the  n,  while  they  dispensed 
inestimable  giftb*  and  benefits  on  such  as  proved 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  297 


themselves  their  friends.  He,  at  the  same  time, 
spread  before  the  cacique  various  presents  brought 
by  the  messengers,  as  specimens  of  the  blessings 
to  be  expected  from  the  friendship  of  the  stran- 
gers. The  intimation  was  effectual.  The  ca- 
cique v^^as  filled  with  awe  at  the  recital  of  the 
terrific  powers  of  the  white  men,  and  his  eyes 
were  dazzled  by  the  glittering  trinkets  displayed 
before  him.  He  entreated  Aguilar,  therefore,  to 
act  as  his  ambassador  and  mediator,  and  to  se- 
cure him  the  amity  of  the  strangers. 

Aguilar  saw  with  transport  the  prospect  of  a 
speedy  deliverance.  In  this  moment  of  exulta- 
tion, he  bethought  himself  of  the  only  surviving 
comrade  of  his  past  fortunes,  Gonzalo  Guerrero, 
and,  sending  the  letter  of  Cortez  to  him,  invited 
him  to  accompany  him  in  his  escape.  The  sturdy 
seaman  was  at  this  time  a  great  chieftain  in  his 
province,  and  his  Indian  bride  had  borne  him  a 
numerous  progeny.  His  heart,  however,  yearned 
after  his  native  country,  and  he  might  have  been 
tempted  to  leave  his  honors  and  dignities,  his  infi- 
del wife  and  half-savage  offspring  behind  him,  but 
an  insuperable,  though  somewhat  ludicrous,  obsta- 
cle presented  itself  to  his  wishes.  Having  long 
since  given  over  all  expectation  of  a  return  to 
civilized  life,  he  had  conformed  to  the  customs  of 
the  country,  and  had  adopted  the  external  signs 
and  decorations  that  marked  him  as  a  warrior 
and  a  man  of  rank.  His  face  and  hands  were 
Indelibly  painted  or  tattooed ;  his  ears  and  lips 
ivere  slit  to  admit  huge  Indian  ornaments,  and 
bis  nose  was  drawn  down  almost  to  his  mouth 
oy  a  massy  ring  of  gold,  and  a  dangling  jeweL 


298       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

Thus  curiously  garbled  and  disfigured,  the  hon« 
est  seaman  felt,  that,  however  he  might  be  ad- 
mired in  Yucatan,  he  should  be  apt  to  have  a 
hooting  rabble  at  his  heels  in  Spain.  lie  made 
up  his  mind,  therefore,  to  remain  a  great  man 
among  the  savages,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of 
being  shown  as  a  man-monster  at  home. 

Finding  that  he  declined  accompanying  him, 
Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  set  off  for  the  point  of  Co- 
toche,  escorted  by  three  Indians.  The  time  he 
had  lost  in  waiting  for  Guerrero  had  nearly 
proved  fatal  to  his  hopes,  for  when  he  arrived  at 
the  point,  the  caravels  sent  by  Cortez  had  de- 
parted, though  several  crosses  of  reeds  set  up  in 
different  places  gave  tokens  of  the  recent  presence 
of  Christians. 

The  only  hope  that  remained  was,  that  the 
squadron  of  Cortez  might  yet  linger  at  the  oppo- 
site island  of  Cozumel ;  but  how  was  he  to  get 
there?  While  wandering  disconsolately  along 
the  shore,  he  found  a  canoe,  half  buried  in  sand 
and  water,  and  with  one  side  in  a  state  of  decay ; 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Indians  he  cleaned  it, 
and  set  it  afloat,  and  on  looking  further,  found 
the  stave  of  a  hogshead  which  might  serve  for  a 
paddle.  It  was  a  frail  embarkation  in  which  to 
cross  an  arm  of  the  sea,  several  leagues  wide,  but 
there  was  no  alternative.  Prevailing  on  the 
Indians  to  accompany  him,  he  launched  forth  in 
the  canoe,  and  coasted  the  main-land  until  he 
came  to  the  narrowest  part  of  the  strait,  where 
it  was  but  four  leagues  across  ;  here  he  stood  di- 
rectly for  Cozumel,  contending,  as  well  as  he  waa 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  ClLUMBUS,  299 


able,  with  a  strong  current,  and  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  island. 

He  had  scarce  landed  when  a  party  of  Span- 
iards, who  had  been  lying  in  wait,  rushed  forth 
from  their  concealment,  sword  in  hand.  The  three 
Indians  would  have  fled,  but  Aguilar  reassured 
them,  and,  calling  out  to  the  Spaniards  in  their 
own  language,  assured  them  that  he  was  a  Chris- 
tian. Then,  throwing  himself  on  his  knees,  and 
raising  his  eyes  streaming  with  tears  to  heaven, 
he  gave  thanks  to  God  for  having  restored  him  to 
his  countrymen. 

The  Spaniards  gazed  at  him  with  astonish- 
ment :  from  his  language  he  was  evidently  a 
Castilian,  but  to  all  appearance  he  was  an  Indian. 
He  was  perfectly  naked  ;  wore  his  hair  braided 
round  his  head  in  the  manner  of  the  country, 
and  his  complexion  was  burnt  by  the  sun  to  a 
tawny  color.  He  had  a  bow  in  his  hand,  a 
quiver  at  his  shoulder,  and  a  net- work  pouch  at 
his  side,  in  which  he  carried  his  provisions. 

The  Spaniards  proved  to  be  a  reconnoitring 
party  sent  out  by  Cortez  to  watch  the  approach 
of  the  canoe,  which  had  been  descried  coming 
from  Yucatan.  Cortez  had  given  up  all  hopes 
of  being  joined  by  the  captives,  the  caravel  hav- 
ing waited  the  allotted  time  at  Cotoche,  and  re^ 
turned  without  news  of  them.  He  had  in  fact 
made  sail  to  prosecute  his  voyage,  but  fortunately 
one  of  his  ships  sprung  a  leak,  which  obliged  him 
'o  return  to  the  island. 

When  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  and  his  compan- 
ions arrived  in  presence  of  Cortez,  who  was  sur« 


300 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


rounded  by  his  officers,  they  made  a  profound 
reverence,  squatted  on  the  ground,  laid  their 
bows  and  arrows  beside  them,  and  touching  theii 
right  hands,  wet  with  spittle  on  the  ground, 
rubbed  them  about  the  region  of  the  heart,  such 
being  their  sign  of  the  most  devoted  submis- 
sion. 

Cortez  greeted  Aguilar  with  a  hearty  welcome, 
and  raising  him  from  the  earth,  took  from  his 
own  person  a  large  yellow  mantle  lined  with 
crimson,  and  threw  it  over  his  shoulders.  The 
latter,  however,  had  for  so  long  a  time  gone 
entirely  naked,  that  even  this  scanty  covering 
was  at  first  almost  insupportable,  and  he  had 
become  so  accustomed  to  the  diet  of  the  natives, 
that  he  found  it  diiiicult  to  reconcile  his  stomach 
to  the  meat  and  drink  set  before  him. 

When  he  had  sufficiently  recovered  from  the 
agitation  of  his  arrival  among  Christians^  Cortez 
drew  from  him  the  particulars  of  his  story,  and 
found  that  he  was  related  to  one  of  his  own 
friends,  the  licentiate  Marcos  de  Aguilar.  He 
treated  him,  therefore,  with  additional  kindness 
and  respect,  and  retained  him  about  his  person, 
to  aid  him  as  an  interpreter  in  his  great  Mexican 
expedition. 

The  happiness  of  Jeronimo  de  Aguilar  at  once 
more  being  restored  to  his  countrymen,  wa3 
doomed  to  suffer  some  alloy  from  the  disasters 
that  had  happened  in  his  family.  Peter  Martyr 
records  a  touching  anecdote  of  tiie  effect  pro- 
duced upon  his  mother  by  the  tidings  of  his  mis- 
fortune.   A  vague  report  reached  her  in  Spain, 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  301 


that  her  son  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  canni- 
bals. All  the  horrible  tales  concerning  the  treat- 
ment of  these  savages  to  their  prisoners  rushed 
to  her  imagination,  and  she  went  distracted. 
Whenever  she  beheld  roasted  meat,  or  flesh  upon 
the  spit,  she  would  fill  the  house  with  her  out^ 
cries.  "  Oh,  wretched  mother !  oh,  most  miser- 
able of  women  !  "  would  she  exclaim  ;  "  behold 
the  limbs  of  my  murdered  son ! "  ^ 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  tidings  of  his  deliver- 
ance had  a  favorable  effect  upon  her  intellects, 
and  that  she  lived  to  rejoice  at  his  after  fortunes. 
He  served  Hernando  Cortez  with  great  courage 
and  ability  throughout  his  Mexican  conquests, 
acting  sometimes  as  a  soldier,  sometimes  as  inter- 
preter and  ambassador  to  the  Indians,  and  in 
reward  of  his  fidelity  and  services,  was  appointed 
regidor,  or  civil  governor  of  the  city  of  Mexico- 

1  Peter  Martyr,  decad.  iv.  cap.  6. 


MICEE  CODEO,  THE  ASTEOLOGEE. 


HE  fate  of  the  Italian  astrologer,  Micen 
Codro,  who  predicted  the  end  of  Vasco 
Nunez,  is  related  by  the  historian 
Oviedo,  with  some  particulars  that  border  upon 
the  marvelous.  It  appears  that,  after  the  death 
of  his  patron,  he  continued  for  several  years 
rambling  about  the  New  World,  in  the  train  of 
the  Spanish  discoverers ;  but  intent  upon  study- 
ing the  secrets  of  its  natural  history,  rather  than 
searching  after  its  treasures. 

In  the  course  of  his  wanderings  he  was  once 
coasting  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  in  a 
ship  commanded  by  one  Geronimo  de  Valenzuela, 
from  whom  he  received  such  cruel  treatment  as 
to  cause  his  death,  though  what  the  nature  of  the 
treatment  was,  we  are  not  precisely  informed. 

Finding  his  end  approaching,  the  unfortunate 
astrologer  addressed  Valenzuela  in  the  most 
solemn  manner :  "  Captain,"  said  he,  "  you  have 
caused  my  death  by  your  cruelty ;  I  now  summon 
you  to  appear  with  me,  within  a  year,  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  God  !  " 

The  captain  made  a  light  and  scoffing  answer 
and  treated  his  summons  with  contempt. 

They  were  then  oflf  the  coast  of  Veragua,  near 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC.  303 


the  verdant  islands  of  Zebaco,  which  lie  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Parita  or  Paria.  Tlie 
poor  astrologer  gazed  wistfully  with  his  dying 
eyes  upon  the  green  and  shady  groves,  and 
entreated  the  pilot  or  mate  of  the  caravel  to  land 
him  on  one  of  the  islands,  that  he  might  die  in 
peace.  "  Micer  Codro,"  replied  the  pilot,  "  thoso 
are  not  islands,  but  points  of  land :  there  are  no 
islands  hereabout/' 

"There  are,  indeed,"  replied  the  astrologer, 
"two  good  and  pleasant  islands,  well  watered, 
and  near  to  the  coast,  and  within  them  is  a  great 
bay  with  a  harbor.  Land  me,  I  pray  you,  upon 
one  of  these  islands,  that  1  may  have  comfort  in 
iny  dying  hour." 

The  pilot,  whose  rough  nature  had  been  touched 
with  pity  for  the  condition  of  the  unfortunate 
astrologer,  listened  to  his  prayer,  and  conveyed 
him  to  the  shore,  where  he  found  the  opinion  he 
had  given  of  the  character  of  the  coast  to  be 
correct.  He  laid  him  on  the  herbage  in  the 
shade,  where  the  poor  w^anderer  soon  expired. 
The  pilot  then  dug  a  grave  at  the  foot  of  a  tree, 
where  he  buried  him  with  ail  possible  decency, 
and  carved  a  cross  on  the  bark  to  mark  the 
grave. 

Some  time  afterwards,  Oviedo,  the  historian, 
was  on  the  island  with  this  very  pilot,  who 
showed  him  the  cross  on  the  tree,  and  gave  his 
honest  testimony  to  the  good  character  and 
worthy  conduct  of  Micer  Codro.  Oviedo,  as  he 
regarded  the  nameless  grave,  passed  the  eulogium 
of  a  scholar  upon  the  poor  astrologer ;  "  He  died," 


-304     VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES,  ETC. 

Bays  he,  "  like  Pliny,  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties,  travelling  about  the  world  to  explore  the 
secrets  of  nature."  According  to  "his  account, 
the  prediction  of  Micer  Codro  held  good  with 
respect  to  Valenzuela,  as  it  had  in  the  case  of 
Vasco  Nunez.  —  The  captain  died  within  the 
term  in  which  he  had  summoned  him  to  appeal 
before  the  tribunal  of  God  !  ^ 


1  Vide  Oviedo,  Hist.  Gen.,  lib.  iLKxix.  cap.  2. 


JTJAN  PONCE  DE  LEON, 

CONQUEROR  OF  PORTO  RICO,  AND  DISCOVERER 
OF  FLORIDA. 


CHAPTER  1. 

BECONNOITRING  EXPEDITION  OF  JUAN  PONCE  DE  LEON 
TO  THE  ISLAND  OF  BORIQUEN. 

[1508.] 

ANY  years  had  elapsed  since  the  dis- 
covery and  colonization  of  Hayti,  yet 
its  neighboring  island  of  Boriquen,  or 
as  the  Spaniards  called  it,  St.  Juan,  (since  named 
Porto  Rico,)  remained  unexplored.  It  was  beau- 
tiful to  the  eye  as  beheld  from  the  sea,  having 
lofly  mountains,  clothed  with  forest  trees  of  pro- 
digious size  and  magnificent  foliage.  There 
were  broad,  fertile  valleys  also,  always  fresh  and 
green  ;  for  the  frequent  showers  and  abundant 
streams,  in  these  latitudes,  and  the  absence  of 
all  wintry  frosts,  produce  a  perpetual  verdure. 
Various  ships  had  occasionally  touched  at  the 
island,  but  their  crews  had  never  penetrated  into 
the  interior.  It  was  evident,  however,  from  the 
VOL.  III.  20 


306       VOYAGES  AND  DJSCOVERJKS  OF 


number  of  hamlets  and  scattered  houses,  and  the 
smoke  rising  in  all  directions  from  among  the 
trees,  that  it  was  well  peopled.  The  inhabitants 
still  continued  to  enjoy  their  life  of  indolence  and 
freedom,  unmolested  by  the  ills  that  overwhelmed 
the  neighboring  island  of  Hayti.  The  time  had 
arrived,  however,  when  they  were  to  share  the 
common  lot  of  their  fellow  savages,  and  to  sink 
beneath  the  yoke  of  the  white  man. 

At  the  time  when  Nicholas  de  Ovando,  gov- 
ernor of  Hispaniola,  undertook  to  lay  waste  the 
great  province  of  Higuey,  which  lay  at  the  east- 
ern end  of  Hayti,  he  sent  as  commander  of  part 
of  the  troops,  a  veteran  soldier,  named  Juan  Ponce 
de  Leon.  He  was  a  native  of  Leon  in  Spain, 
and  in  his  boyhood  had  been  page  to  Pedro 
Nunez  de  Guzman,  Senor  of  Toral.^  From  an 
early  age  he  had  been  schooled  to  war,  and  had 
served  in  various  campaigns  against  the  Moors 
of  Granada.  He  accompanied  Columbus  in  his 
second  voyage  in  1493,  and  was  afterwards,  it  is 
said,  one  of  the  partisans  of  Francisco  Poldan,  in 
his  rebellion  against  the  admiral.  Having  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  various  battles  with  the  Li- 
dians,  and  acquired  a  name  for  sagacity  as  well 
as  valor,  he  received  a  command  subordinate  to 
Juan  de  Esquibel  in  the  campaign  against 
Higuey,  and  seconded  his  chief  so  valiantly  in 
that  sanguinary  expedition,  that,  after  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  province,  he  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  it,  as  lieutenant  of  the  gcvernor  of 
Hispaniola. 

1  Incas,  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  Hist.  Florida,  torn.  iv.  cap.  37. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  SOI 


Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  had  all  the  impatience 
(/f  quiet  life  and  the  passion  for  exploit  of  a  vet- 
eran campaigner.  He  had  not  been  long  in  the 
tranquil  command  of  his  province  of  Higuey, 
before  he  began  to  cast  a  wistful  eye  towards 
the  green  mountains  of  Boriquen.  They  were 
directly  opposite,  and  but  twelve  or  fourteen 
leagues  distant,  so  as  to  be  distinctly  seen  in  the 
transparent  atmosphere  of  the  tropics.  The  In- 
dians of  the  two  islands  frequently  visited  each 
other,  and  in  this  way  Juan  Ponce  received  the 
usual  intelligence,  that  the  mountains  he  had 
eyed  so  wistfully  abounded  with  gold.  He 
readily  obtained  permission  from  Governor 
Ovando  to  make  an  expedition  to  this  island, 
and  embarked  in  the  year  1508  in  a  caravel, 
with  a  few  Spaniards,  and  several  Indian  inter- 
preters and  guides. 

After  an  easy  voyage,  he  landed  on  the  woody 
shores  of  the  island,  near  to  the  residence  of  the 
principal  cacique,  Agueybana.  He  found  the 
chieftain  seated,  in  patriarchal  style,  under  the 
shade  of  his  native  groves,  and  surrounded  by 
his  family,  consisting  of  his  mother,  step-father, 
brother,  and  sister,  who  vied  with  each  other  in 
paying  homage  to  the  strangers.  Juan  Ponce, 
in  fact,  was  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  fam- 
ily, and  the  cacique  exchanged  names  with  him, 
which  is  the  Indian  pledge  of  perpetual  amity. 
Juan  Ponce  also  gave  Christian  names  to  the 
mother  and  step-fiither  of  the  cacique,  and  would 
^'ain  have  baptized  them,  but  they  declined  the 
ceremony,  though  they  always  took  a  pride  ip 
the  names  thus  given  them. 


808       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


III  the  zeal  to  gratify  his  guests,  the  cacique 
Look  them  to  various  parts  of  the  ishmd.  They 
founii  the  interior  to  correspond  with  the  ex- 
ternal appearance.  It  was  wild  and  mountain- 
ous, but  magnificently  wooded,  with  deep  rich 
valleys  fertilized  by  limpid  streams.  Juan  Ponce 
requested  the  cacique  to  reveal  to  him  the  riches 
of  the  island.  The  simple  Indian  showed  him 
his  most  productive  fields  of  Yuca,  groves  laden 
with  delicious  fruit,  the  sweetest  and  purest  foun- 
tains, and  the  coolest  runs  of  water. 

Ponce  de  Leon  heeded  but  little  these  real 
blessings,  and  demanded  whether  the  island  pro- 
duced no  gold.  Upon  this  the  cacique  conducted 
him  to  two  rivers,  the  Manatuabon  and  the 
Zetuco,  where  the  very  pebbles  seemed  richly 
veined  with  gold,  and  large  grains  shone  among 
the  sands  through  the  limpid  water.  Some  of 
the  largest  of  these  were  gathered  by  the  In- 
dians, and  given  to  the  Spaniards.  The  quan- 
tity thus  procured  confirmed  the  hopes  of  Juan 
Ponce  ;  and  leaving  several  of  his  companions  in 
the  house  of  the  hospitable  cacique,  he  returned 
to  Hayti  to  report  the  success  of  his  expedition. 
He  presented  the  specimens  of  gold  to  the  gov- 
ernor Ovando,  who  assayed  them  in  a  crucible. 
The  ore  was  not  so  fine  as  that  of  Hispaniola, 
but,  as  it  was  supposed  to  exist  in  greater  quan- 
tities, the  governor  determined  on  the  subjuga- 
tion of  the  island,  and  confided  the  enterprise  to 
Juan  Ponce  de  Leon. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  309 


CHAPTER  II. 

JUAN  PONCE  ASPIRES  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  PORTO 
.  RICO. 

[1509.] 

The  natives  of  Boriquen  were  more  warlike 
than  those  of  Hispaniola;  being  accustomed  to 
the  use  of  arms  from  the  necessity  of  repelling 
the  frequent  invasions  of  the  Caribs.  It  was 
supposed,  therefore,  that  the  conquest  of  their 
island  would  be  attended  with  some  dirficulty ; 
and  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  made  another,  and  as 
it  were,  a  preparatory  visit,  to  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  country,  and  with  the  nature 
and  resources  of  the  inhabitants.  He  found  the 
ccmpanions  v»  hom  he  had  left  there  on  his  former 
visit,  in  good  health  and  spirits,  and  full  of  grat- 
itude towards  the  cacique  Agueybana,  who  had 
treated  them  with  undiminished  hospitality. 
There  appeared  to  be  no  need  of  violence  to 
win  the  island  from  such  simple  hearted  and  con- 
fiding people.  Juan  de  Ponce  flattered  himself 
with  the  hopes  of  being  appointed  to  its  govern- 
ment by  Ovando,  and  of  bringing  it  peaceably 
into  subjection.  After  remaining  some  time  on 
the  island,  he  returned  to  San  Domingo  to  seek 
the  desired  appointment,  but,  to  his  surpiise, 
found  the  whole  face  of  affairs  had  changed  dur- 
ing his  absence. 

His  patron,  the  governor  Ovandc,  had  been  re* 
called  to  Spain,  and  Don  Diego  Columbus,  son  of 


310 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


the  renowned  discoverer,  appointed  in  his  place  to 
the  command  of  San  Domingo.  To  add  to  the 
perplexities  of  Juan  Ponce,  a  cavalier  had  already 
arrived  from  Spain,  empowered  by  the  king  to 
form  a  settlement  and  build  a  fortress  on  the  isl- 
and of  Porto  Rico.  His  name  was  Christoval 
de  Sotomayor ;  he  was  brother  to  the  Count  of 
Camma,  and  had  been  secretary  to  Philip  1.  sur- 
named  the  Handsome,  King  of  Castile  and  father 
of  Charles  Y. 

Don  Diego  Columbus  was  highly  displeased 
with  the  act  of  the  king  in  granting  these  powers 
to  Sotomayor,  as  it  had  been  done  without  his 
knowledge  and  consent,  and  of  course  in  disregard 
of  his  prerogative  as  viceroy,  to  be  consulted  as 
to  all  appointments  made  within  his  jurisdiction. 
He  refused,  therefore,  to  put  Sotomayor  in  pos- 
session of  the  island.  He  paid  as  little  respect 
to  the  claims  of  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  whom  he 
regarded  with  an  ungracious  eye  as  a  favorite  of 
his  predecessor  Ovando.  To  settle  the  matter  ef- 
fectually, he  exerted  what  he  considered  his  official 
and  hereditary  privilege,  and  chose  officers  to  suit 
himself,  appointing  one  Juan  Ceron  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Porto  Rico,  and  Miguel  Diaz  to  serve  as 
Ills  lieutenant.^ 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  his  rival  candidate 
Christoval  de  Sotomayor,  bore  their  disappoint- 

1  If  the  reader  has  perused  the  history  of  Columbus,  he 
may  remember  the  romantic  adventure  of  this  Miguel  Diaz 
with  a  female  cacique,  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  gold 
mines  of  Hayna,  and  the  founding  of  the  city  of  San  Do* 
iiiiogo. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  oU 


neiit  with  a  good  grace.  Though  the  command 
iN^as  denied  them,  they  still  hoped  to  improve  their 
/brtunes  on  the  island,  and  accordingly  joined  the 
crowd  of  adventurers  that  accompanied  the  newly 
appointed  governor. 

New  changes  soon  took  place  in  consequence 
of  the  jealousies  and  misunderstandings  between 
King  Ferdinand  and  the  admiral  as  to  points  of 
privilege.  The  former  still  seemed  disposed  to 
maintain  the  right  of  making  appointments  with- 
out consulting  Don  Diego,  and  exerted  it  in  the 
present  instance  ;  for  when  Ovando,  on  his  return 
to  Spain,  made  favorable  representation  of  the 
merits  of  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  set  forth  his 
services  in  exploring  Porto  Rico,  the  king  ap- 
pouited  him  governor  of  that  island,  and  signified 
specifically  that  Don  Diego  Columbus  should  not 
presume  to  displace  him. 


CHAPTER  m. 

JUAN  PONCE  RULES  WITH  A  STRONG  HAND.  —  EXASPER- 
ATION OF  THE  INDIANS.  —  THEIR  EXPERIMENT  TO  PROVE 
WHETHER  THE  SPANIARDS  WERE  MORTAL. 

JuAN  Ponce  de  Leon  assumed  the  command 
of  the  island  of  Boriquen  in  the  year  1509.  Being 
a  fiery,  high-handed  old  soldier,  his  first  step  was 
to  quarrel  with  Juan  Ceron  and  Miguel  Diaz,  the 
ex-governor  and  his  lieutenant,  and  to  send  tJiera 
prisoners  to  Spain.^ 

1  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib.  vii.  cap.  13. 


312       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


He  was  far  more  favorable  to  his  late  competitor 
Chris  to  val  de  Soto  mayor.  Finding  him  to  be  a 
cavalier  of  noble  blood  and  high  connections,  yet' 
void  of  pretension,  and  of  most  accommodating 
temper,  he  offered  to  make  him  his  lieutenant,  tmd 
to  give  him  the  post  of  alcalde  mayor,  an  offer 
which  whs  very  thankfully  accepted. 

The  pride  of  rank,  however,  which  follows  a 
man  even  into  the  wilderness,  soon  interfered  with 
the  quiet  of  Sotomayor ;  he  was  ridiculed  for  de- 
scending so  much  below  his  birth  and  dignity,  as 
to  accept  a  subaltern  situation  to  a  simple  gentle- 
man in  the  island  which  he  had  originally  aspired 
to  govern.  He  could  not  withstand  these  sneers, 
but  resigned  his  appointment,  and  remained  on 
the  island  as  a  private  individual ;  establishing  him- 
self in  a  village  where  he  had  a  large  repartimiento, 
or  allotment  of  Indians,  assigned  to  him  by  a  grant 
from  the  king. 

Juan  Ponce  fixed  his  seat  of  government  m  a 
town  called  Caparra,  which  he  founded  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  island,  about  a  league  from 
the  sea,  in  a  neighborhood  supposed  to  abound  in 
gold.  It  was  in  front  of  the  port  called  Rico, 
which  subsequently  gave  its  name  to  the  island. 
The  road  to  the  town  was  up  a  mountain,  through 
a  dense  forest,  and  so  rugged  and  miry  that  it  was 
the  bane  of  man  and  beast.  It  cost  more  to  (con- 
vey provisions  and  merchandise  up  this  league  of 
mountain,  than  it  did  to  bring  them  from  Spain. 

Juan  Ponce,  being  firmly  seated  in  his  govern- 
ment, began  to  carve  and  portion  out  the  island, 
to  found  towns,  and  to  distribute  the  natives  mto 


THE  CO  MP  AN  ONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  313 

ropartimientos,  for  the  purpose  of  exacting  theb 
labor. 

The  poor  Indians  soon  found  the  difference  be 
tween  the  Spaniards  as  guests,  and  the  Spaniards 
as  masters.  They  were  driven  to  despair  by  the 
heavy  tasks  imposed  upon  them ;  for  to  their  free 
spirits  and  indolent  habits,  restraint  and  labor  wem 
worse  than  death.  Many  of  the  most  hardy  and 
daring  proposed  a  general  insurrection,  and  a  mas- 
sacre of  their  oppressors  ;  the  great  mass,  however, 
were  deterred  by  the  belief  that  the  Spaniards 
were  supernatural  beings,  and  could  not  be  killed. 

A  shrewd  and  skeptical  cacique,  named  Bra- 
yoan,  determined  to  put  their  immortality  to  the 
test.  Hearing  that  a  young  Spaniard,  named  Sal- 
zedo,  was  passing  through  his  lands,  he  sent  a 
party  of  his  subjects  to  escort  him,  giving  them 
secret  instructions  how  they  were  to  act.  On  com- 
ing to  a  river,  they  took  Salzedo  on  their  shoulders 
to  carry  him  across,  but  when  in  the  midst  of  the 
stream,  they  let  him  fall,  and  throwing  themselves 
upon  him,  pressed  him  under  water  until  he  was 
drowned.  Then  dragging  his  body  to  the  shore, 
and  still  doubting  his  being  dead,  they  wept  and 
howled  over  him,  making  a  thousand  apologies  for 
having  fallen  upon  him,  and  kept  him  so  long 
beneath  the  surface. 

The  cacique  Brayoan  came  to  examine  the 
body,  and  pronounced  it  lifeless ;  but  the  Indians, 
still  fearing  it  might  possess  lurking  immortality 
and  ultimately  revive,  kept  watch  over  it  for  three 
lays,  until  it  showed  incontestable  signs  of  pu* 
^refaction. 


314        VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Being  now  convinced  that  the  strangers  were 
mortal  men,  like  themselves,  they  readily  entered 
into  a  general  conspiracy  to  destroy  them.^ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONSPIRACY  OP  THE  CACIQUES.  —  FATE  OF  SOTOMAYOR. 

The  prime  mover  of  the  conspiracy  among 
the  natives  was  Agueybana,  brother  and  suc- 
cessor to  the  hospitable  cacique  of  the  same 
name,  who  had  first  welcomed  the  Spaniards  to 
the  island,  and  who  had  fortunately  closed  his 
eyes  in  peace,  before  his  native  groves  were  made 
the  scenes  of  violence  and  oppression.  The 
present  cacique  had  fallen  within  the  reparti- 
miento  of  Don  Christoval  de  Sotomayor,  and, 
though  treated  by  the  cavalier  with  kindness, 
could  never  reconcile  his  proud  spirit  to  the  yoke 
of  vassalage. 

Agueybana  held  secret  councils  with  his  con- 
federate caciques,  in  which  they  concerted  a  plan 
of  operations.  As  the  Spaniards  were  scattered 
about  in  different  places,  it  was  agreed  that,  at  a 
certain  time,  each  cacique  should  dispatch  those 
within  his  province.  In  arranging  the  massacre 
of  those  within  his  own  dominions,  Agueybana 
assigned  to  one  of  his  inferior  caciques  the  task 
of  surprising  the  village  of  Sotomayor,  giving 
bim  3000  warriors  for  the  purpose.  He  was  to 
1  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib.  viii.  cap.  13. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  315 

assail  the  village  in  the  dead  of  night,  to  set  fire 
to  the  houses,  and  to  slaughter  all  the  inhabi- 
tants. He  proudly,  however,  reserved  to  himself 
the  honor  of  killing  Don  Christoval  with  his  own 
hand. 

Don  Christoval  had  an  unsuspected  friend  in 
the  very  midst  of  his  enemies.  Being  a  cavalier 
of  gallant  appearance  and  amiable  and  courteous 
manners,  he  had  won  the  affections  of  an  Indian 
princess,  the  sister  of  the  cacique  Agueybana. 
She  had  overheard  enough  of  the  war-council  of 
her  brother  and  bis  warriors,  to  learn  that  Soto- 
mayor  was  in  danger.  The  life  of  her  lover  was 
more  precious  in  her  eyes  than  the  safety  of  her 
brother  and  her  tribe ;  hastening,  therefore,  to 
him,  she  told  him  all  that  she  knew  or  feared, 
and  warned  him  to  be  upon  his  guard.  Soto- 
mayor  appears  to  have  been  of  the  most  easy 
and  incautious  nature,  void  of  all  evil  and  deceit 
himself,  and  slow  to  suspect  anything  of  the  kind 
in  others.  He  considered  the  apprehension  of 
the  princess  as  dictated  by  her  fond  anxiety,  and 
neglected  to  profit  by  her  warning. 

He  received,  however,  about  the  same  time,  in- 
formation from  a  different  quarter ;  tending  to 
the  same  point.  A  Spaniard,  versed  in  the  lan- 
guage and  customs  of  the  natives,  had  observed 
a  number  gathering  together  one  evening,  painted 
iind  decorated,  as  if  for  battle.  Suspecting  some 
lurking  mischief,  he  stripped  and  painted  himself 
in  their  manner,  and,  favored  by  the  obscurity  of 
Jhe  night,  succeeded  in  mingling  among  them  un- 
discovered.   Thoy  were  assembled  round  a  fire. 


olG      VOYAGES  A.VD  DISCOVERIES  OF 


performing  one  of  tlieir  mystic  war-dances,  to  tlie 
chant  of  an  areyto  or  legendary  ballad.  The 
strophes  and  responses  treated  cf  revenge  and 
slaughter,  and  repeatedly  mentioned  the  death  of 
Sotomayor. 

The  Spaniard  withdrew  unperceived,  and  has- 
tened to  apprise  Don  Christoval  of  his  danger. 
The  latter  still  made  light  of  these  repeated 
warnings ;  revolving  them,  however,  in  his  mind 
in  the  stillness  of  the  night,  he  began  to  feel 
some  uneasiness,  and  determined  to  repair  in  the 
morning  to  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  in  his  strong- 
hold at  Caparra.  With  his  fated  heedlessness,  or 
temerity,  however,  he  applied  to  Agueybana  for 
Indians  to  carry  his  baggage,  and  departed 
slightly  armed,  and  accompanied  by  but  three 
Spaniards,  although  he  had  to  pass  through  close 
and  lonely  forests,  where  he  would  be  at  the 
mercy  of  any  treacherous  or  lurking  foe. 

The  cacique  watched  the  departure  of  his  in- 
tended victim,  and  set  out  early  shortly  after- 
wards, dogging  his  steps  at  a  distance  through 
the  forest,  accompanied  by  a  few  chosen  warriors. 
Agueybana  and  his  party  had  not  proceeded  far, 
when  they  met  a  Spaniard  named  Juan  Gonzalez, 
who  spoke  the  Indian  language.  They  imme- 
diately assailed  him,  and  wounded  him  in  several 
places.  He  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  ca- 
cique, imploring  his  life  in  the  most  abject  terms. 
The  chief  spared  him  for  the  moment,  being  eager 
to  make  sure, of  Don  Christoval.  He  ovjprtook 
that  incautious  cavalier  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
woodland,  and  stealing  silently  upon  him,  buidt 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  317 

forth  suddenly  with  his  warriors  from  the  covert 
of  the  thickets,  giving  the  fatal  war-whoop. 
Before  Sotomayor  could  put  himself  upon  hig 
guardj  a  blow  from  the  war-club  of  the  cacique 
felled  him  to  the  earth,  when  he  was  quickly  dis- 
patched by  repeated  blows.  The  four  Spaniards 
who  accompanied  him  shared  his  fate,  being 
assailed,  not  merely  by  the  warriors  who  had 
come  in  pursuit  of  them,  but  by  their  own 
Indian  guides. 

When  Agueybana  had  glutted  his  vengeance 
on  this  unfortunate  cavalier,  he  returned  in  quest 
of  Juan  Gonzalez.  The  latter,  however,  had 
recovered  sufficiently  from  his  wounds  to  leave 
the  place  where  he  had  been  assailed,  and,  dread- 
ing the  return  of  the  savages,  had  climbed  into  a 
tree  and  concealed  himself  among  the  branches. 
From  thence,  with  trembling  anxiety,  he  watched 
his  pursuers  as  they  searched  all  the  surrounding 
forest  for  him.  Fortunately  they  did  not  think 
of  looking  up  into  the  trees,  but,  after  beating 
the  bushes  for  some  time,  gave  up  the  search. 
Though  he  saw  them  depart,  he  did  not  venture 
from  his  concealment  until  the  night  had  closed ; 
he  then  descended  from  the  tree,  and  made  the 
best  of  his  way  to  the  residence  of  certain.  Span- 
iards, where  his  wounds  were  dressed.  Wlien 
this  was  done  he  waited  not  to  take  repose,  but 
repaired  by  a  circuitous  route  to  Caparra,  and 
informed  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  of  the  danger  he 
supposed  to  be  still  impending  over  Sotomayor, 
for  he  knew  not  that  the  enemy  had  accom- 
^il'shed  his  death.    Juan  Ponce  immediately  sent 


318       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

out  forty  men  to  his  relief.  They  came  to  the 
scene  of  massacre,  where  they  found  the  body  of 
the  unfortunate  cavalier,  partly  buried,  but  with 
the  feet  out  of  the  earth. 

In  the  mean  time  the  savages  had  accomplished 
the  destruction  of  the  village  of  Sotomayor. 
They  approached  it  un  perceived,  through  the  sur- 
rounding forest,  and  entering  it  in  the  dead  of  the 
night,  set  fire  to  the  straw-thatched  houses,  and 
attacked  the  Spaniards  as  they  endeavored  to 
escape  from  the  flames. 

Several  were  slain  at  the  onset,  but  a  brave 
Spaniard,  named  Diego  de  Salazar,  rallied  his 
countrymen,  inspirited  them  to  beat  off  the 
enemy,  and  succeeded  in  conducting  the  greater 
part  of  them,  though  sorely  mangled  and  har- 
assed, to  the  stronghold  of  the  governor  of 
Caparra.  Scarcely  had  these  fugitives  gained  the 
fortress,  when  others  came  hurrying  in  from  all 
quarters,  bringing  similar  tales  of  conflagration 
and  massacre.  For  once  a  general  insurrection, 
so  often  planned  in  savage  life  against  the  domin- 
ation of  the  white  men,  was  crowned  with  success. 
All  the  villages  founded  by  the  Spaniards  had 
been  surprised,  about  a  hundred  of  their  inhab- 
itants destroyed,  and  the  survivors  driven  to  take 
•efuge  in  a  beleaguered  fortress 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  319 


CHAPTER  V. 

WAR  OF  JUAN  PONCE  WITH  THE  CACIQUE  AGUEYBAnX. 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  might  now  almost  bo 
considered  a  governor  without  territories,  and  a 
general  without  soldiers.  His  villages  were 
smoking  ruins,  and  his  whole  force  did  not 
amount  to  a  hundred  men,  several  of  whom  were 
disabled  by  their  wounds.  He  had  an  able  and 
implacable  foe  in  Agueybana,  who  took  the  lead 
of  all  the  other  caciques,  and  even  sent  envoys 
to  the  Caribs  of  the  neighboring  islands,  entreat- 
ing them  to  forget  all  ancient  animosities,  and  to 
make  common  cause  against  these  strangers  — 
the  deadly  enemies  of  the  whole  Indian  race. 
In  the  mean  time  the  whole  of  this  wild  island 
was  in  rebellion,  and  the  forests  around  the 
fortress  of  Caparra  rang  with  the  whoops  and 
yells  of  the  savages,  tlie  blasts  of  their  war 
conchs,  and  the  stormy  roaring  of  their  drums. 

Juan  Ponce  was  a  stanch  and  wary  old  sol- 
dier, and  not  easily  daunted.  He  remained 
grimly  ensconced  within  his  fortress,  whence  he 
dispatched  messengers  in  all  haste  to  Hispan- 
iola,  imploring  immediate  assistance.  In  the 
mean  time,  he  tasked  his  wits  to  divert  the  en- 
emy, and  keep  them  at  bay.  He  divided  his 
little  force  into  three  bodies  of  about  thirty  men 
each,  under  the  command  of  Diego  Salazar, 
Miguel  de  Toro,  and  Luis  de  Anasco,  and  sent 
them  out  alternately  to  make  surprises  and  as 


320       VOYA  GES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


sai:lts,  to  form  ambuscades,  and  to  practice  the 
other  stratagems  of  partisan  warfare,  which  he 
had  learnt  in  early  life,  in  his  campaigns  against 
the  Moors  of  Granada.  - 

One  of  his  most  efficient  warriors  was  a  dog 
named  Berezillo,  renowned  for  courage,  strength, 
and  sagacity.  It  is  said  that  he  could  distinguish 
those  of  the  Indians  who  were  allies,  from  those 
who  were  enemies  of  the  Spaniards.  To  the 
former  he  was  docile  and  friendly,  to  the  latter 
fierce  and  implacable.  He  was  the  terror  of  the 
natives,  who  were  unaccustomed  to  powerful  and 
ferocious  animals,  and  did  more  service  in  this 
wild  warfare,  than  could  have  been  rendered  by 
several  soldiers.  His  prowess  was  so  highly  ap- 
preciated, that  his  master  received  for  him  the 
pay,  allowance,  and  share  of  booty,  assigned  to 
a  cross-bowman,  which  was  the  highest  stipend 
given.^ 

At  length  the  stout  old  cavalier  Juan  Ponce 
was  reinforced  in  his  stronghold,  by  troops  from 
Hispaniola,  whereupon  he  sallied  forth  boldly  to 
take  revenge  upon  those  who  had  thus  held  him 
in  a  kind  of  durance.  His  foe,  Agueybana,  was 
at  that  time  encamped  in  his  own  territories  with 
more  than  five  thousand  warriors,  but  in  a  neg- 

i  This  famous  dog  was  killed  some  years  afterwards  by  a 
poisoned  arrow,  as  he  was  swimming  in  the  sea  in  pursuit  of 
ft  Carib  Indian.  He  left,  however,  a  numerous  progeny  and 
a  great  name  behind  him ;  and  his  merits  and  exploits  were 
long  a  favorite  theme  among  the  Spanish  colonists.  He  waa 
father  to  the  renowned  Leoncico,  the  faithful  dog  of  Vasco 
Nunez,  which  resembled  him  in  looks  and  equaled  him  in 
prowess. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  321 


ligeiit  and  imvvatchful  state,  for  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  reinforcements  of  the  Spaniards,  and  sup- 
posed Juan  Ponce  shut  up  with  his  handful  of 
men  in  Caparra.  The  old  soldier,  therefore, 
took  him  completely  by  surprise,  and  routed 
him  with  great  slaughter.  Indeed,  it  is  said 
the  Indians  were  struck  with  a  kind  of  panic 
when  they  saw  the  Spaniards  as  numerous  as 
ever,  notwithstanding  the  number  they  had  mas 
sacred.  Their  belief  in  their  immortality  revived, 
they  fancied  that  those  whom  they  had  slain  had 
returned  to  life,  and  they  despaired  of  victory 
over  beings  who  could  thus  arise  with  renovated 
vigor  from  the  grave.  Various  petty  actions  and 
skirmishes  afterwards  took  place,  in  which  the 
Indians  were  defeated.  Agueybana,  however, 
disdained  this  petty  warfare,  and  stirred  up  his 
countrymen  to  assemble  their  *  forces,  and  by  one 
grand  assault  to  decide  the  fate  of  themselves 
and  their  island.  Juan  Ponce  received  secret 
tidings  of  their  intent,  and  of  the  place  where 
<vhey  were  assembling.  He  had  at  that  time 
barely  eighty  men  at  his  disposal,  but  they  were 
cased  in  steel,  and  proof  against  the  weapons  of 
the  savages.  Without  stopping  to  reflect,  the 
high-mettled  old  cavalier  put  himself  at  their 
head,  and  led  them  through  the  forest  in  quest 
of  the  foe. 

It  was  nearly  sunset  when  he  came  in  sight 
of  the  Indian  camp,  and  the  multitude  of  war- 
riors assembled  there  made  hia  pause,  and 
almost  repent  of  his  temerity.  He  was  as 
ahrewd,  however,  as  he  was  hardy  and  resolute. 

VOL.  III.  21 


D22       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


Ordeiing  some  of  his  men  in  the  advance  to 
Bkirmish  with  the  enemy,  he  hastily  threw  up  a 
Blight  fortification  with  the  assistance  of  the  rest. 
When  it  was  finished  he  withdrew  his  forces  into 
it,  and  ordered  them  to  keep  merely  on  the  de- 
fensive. The  Indians  made  repeated  attacks,  bat 
were  as  often  repulsed  with  loss.  Some  of  the 
Spaniards,  impatient  of  this  covert  warfare,  would 
sally  forth  in  open  field  with  pike  and  cross-bow, 
but  were  called  back  withhi  the  fortification  by 
their  wary  commander. 

The  cacique  Agueybank  was  enraged  at  find-  ^ 
ing  his  host  of  warriors  thus  baffled  and  kept  at 
bay  by  a  mere  handful  of  Spaniards.  He  be- 
held the  night  closing  in,  and  feared  that  in  the 
darkness  the  enemy  would  escape.  Summoning 
his  choicest  warriors  round  him,  therefore,  he 
led  the  way  in  a  general  assault,  when,  as  he 
approached  the  fortress,  he  received  a  mortal 
wound  from  an  arquebuse,  and  fell  dead  upon 
the  spot. 

The  Spaniards  were  not  aware  at  first  of  the 
importance  of  the  chief  whom  they  had  slain* 
They  soon  surmised  it,  however,  from  the  con- 
fusion among  the  enemy,  who  bore  off  the  body 
with  great  lamentations,  and  made  no  further 
attack. 

The  wary  Juan  Ponce  took  advantage  of  the 
evident  distress  of  the  foe,  to  draw  off  his  small 
forces  in  the  night,  happy  to  get  out  of  the  ter- 
rible jeopardy  into  which  a  rash  confidence  had 
betrayed  him.  Some  of  his  fiery,  spirited  oflicers 
would  have  kept  the  field  in  spite  of  the  over- 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  325 


•whelming  force  of  the  enemy.  "  No,  no,"  said 
the  shrewd  veteran  ;  "  it  is  better  to  protract  the 
war  than  to  risk  all  upon  a  single  battle." 

While  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  was  fighting 
hard  to  maintain  his  sway  over  the  island,  his 
transient  dignity  was  overturned  by  another 
power,  against  which  the  prowess  of  the  old 
Boldier  was  of  no  avail.  King  Ferdinand  had 
repented  of  the  step  he  had  ill-advisedly  taken, 
in  superseding  the  governor  and  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor appointed  by  Don  Diego  Columbus.  He 
became  convinced,  though  rather  tardily,  that  it 
was  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  admiral, 
and  that  policy,  as  well  as  justice,  required  him 
to  i-etract  it.  When  Juan  Ceron  and  Miguel 
Diaz,  therefore,  came  prisoners  to  Spain,  he  re- 
ceived them  graciously,  conferred  many  favors 
on  them  to  atone  for  their  rough  ejectment  from 
office,  and  finally,  after  some  time,  sent  them 
back  empowered  to  resume  the  command  of  the 
island.  They  were  ordered,  however,  on  no  ac- 
count to  manifest  rancor  or  ill-will  against  Ponce 
de  Leon,  or  to  interfere  with  any  property  he 
might  hold,  either  in  houses,  lands,  or  Indians  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly 
understandinof  with  him.  The  kin<x  also  wrote 
to  the  hardy  veteran,  explaining  to  him  that  his 
'restitution  of  Ceron  and  Diaz  had  been  deter 
mined  upon  in  council,  as  a  mere  act  of  justice 
due  to  them,  but  was  not  intended  as  a  censure 
upon  his  conduct,  and  that  means  should  be 
sought  to  indemnify  him  f^r  the  loss  of  his  com* 
maud. 


324        VOFAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 

By  the  time  tliat  the  governor  and  his  lieiiten 
ant  reached  the  island,  Juan  Ponce  had  completed 
its  su])jugation.  The  death  of  the  island  cham- 
pion, the  brave  Agueybana,  had  in  fact  been  a 
death-blow  to  the  natives,  and  shows  how  much, 
in  savage  warfare,  depends  upon  a  single  chieftauu 
They  never  made  head  of  war  afterwards ;  but, 
dispersing  among  their  forests  and  mountains,  fell 
gradually  under  the  power  of  the  Spaniards. 
Their  subsequent  fate  was  like  that  of  their  neigh- 
bors of  Hayti.  They  were  employed  in  the  labor 
of  the  mines,  and  in  other  rude  toils  so  repugnant 
to  their  nature  that  they  sank  beneath  them,  and, 
in  a  little  while,  almost  all  the  aboriginals  dis- 
appeared from  the  island. 


CHAPTER  VL 

JUAN  PONCE  DE  LEON  HEARS  OP  A  WONDERFUL  COUNTRY 
AND  MIRACULOUS  FOUNTAIN. 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  resigned  the  command 
of  Porto  Rico,  with  tolerable  grace.  The  loss  of 
one  wild  island  and  wild  government  was  of  little 
moment,  when  there  was  a  new  world  to  be  shared 
out,  where  a  bold  soldier  like  himself,  with  sword 
and  buckler,  might  readily  carve  out  new  fortunes 
for  himself.  Besides,  he  had  now  amassed  wealth 
^•o  assist  him  in  his  plans,  and,  like  many  of  the 
early  discoverers,  his  brain  was  teeming  with  the 
most  romantic  enterprises.  He  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  there  was  yet  a  third  world  to  be  dis' 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  325 

covered,  and  he  hoped  to  be  the  first  to  reach  its 
shores,  and  thus  secure  a  renown  equal  to  that  of 
Columbus. 

While  cogitating  these  things,  and  considering 
which  way  he  should  strike  forth  in  the  unexplored 
regions  around  him,  he  met  with  some  old  Indians, 
who  gave  him  tidings  of  a  country  which  promised, 
not  merely  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  ambition, 
but  to  realize  the  fondest  dreams  of  the  poets. 
They  assured  him  that,  far  to  the  north,  there  ex- 
isted a  land  abounding  in  gold,  and  in  all  manner 
of  delights ;  but,  above  all,  possessing  a  river  of 
such  wonderful  virtue,  that  whoever  bathed  in  it 
would  be  restored  to  youth !  They  added,  that 
in  times  past,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards, 
a  large  party  of  the  natives  of  Cuba  had  departed 
northward  in  search  of  this  happy  land  and  this 
river  of  life,  and,  having  never  returned,  it  was 
concluded  that  they  were  flourishing  in  renovated 
youth,  detained  by  the  pleasures  of  that  enchant- 
ing country. 

Here  was  the  dream  of  the  alchemist  realized ! 
One  had  but  to  find  this  gifted  land,  and  revel  in 
the  enjoyment  of  boundless  riches  and  perennial 
youth !  Nay,  some  of  the  ancient  Indians  declared 
that  it  was  not  necessary  to  go  so  far  in  quest  of 
these  rejuvenating  waters,  for  that,  in  a  certain 
island  of  the  Bahama  group,  called  Bimini,  which 
lay  far  out  in  the  ocean,  there  was  a  fountain  pos- 
sessing the  same  marvellous  and  inestimable  qual- 
•ties. 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  listened  to  these  tales 
with  fond  credulity.    He  was  advancing  in  life, 


326       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


and  the  ordinary  term  of  existence  seemed  insuf 
ficient  for  his  mighty  plans.  Could  he  but  plunge 
into  this  marvelous  fountain  or  gifted  river,  and 
come  out  with  his  battered,  war-worn  body  re- 
stored to  the  strength  and  freshness  and  supple- 
ness of  youth,  and  his  head  still  retaining  the  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  of  age,  what  enterprisea 
might  he  not  accomplish  m  the  additional  course 
of  vigorous  years  insured  to  him  ! 

It  may  seem  incredible,  at  the  present  day,  that 
a  man  of  years  and  experience  could  yield  atiy 
faith  to  a  story  which  resembles  the  wild  fiction 
of  an  Arabian  tale  ;  but  the  wonders  and  novelties 
breakmg  upon  the  world  in  that  age  of  discovery, 
almost  realized  the  illusions  of  fable,  and  the  im- 
aginations of  the  Spanish  voyagers  had  become 
so  heated,  that  they  were  capable  of  any  stretch 
of  credulity. 

So  fully  persuaded  was  the  worthy  old  cavalier 
of  the  existence  of  the  region  described  to  him, 
that  he  fitted  out  three  ships  at  his  own  expense 
to  prosecute  the  discovery,  nor  had  he  any  dif- 
ficulty in  finding  adventurers  in  abundance  ready 
to  cruise  with  him  in  quest  of  this  fairy-land.^ 

1  It  was  not  the  credulous  minds  of  voyagers  aud  adven- 
turers alone  that  were  heated  by  these  Indian  traditions  and 
romantic  fables.  Men  of  learning-  and  eminence  were  likewise 
beguiled  by  them:  witness  the  following  extract  from  the 
second  decad.  of  Peter  Martyr,  addressed  to  Leo  X.,  then 
Bish:p  of  Rome:  — 

*'  Among  the  islands  on  the  north  side  of  Hispaniola  there 
is  one  about  325  leagues  distant,  as  they  say  which  have 
searched  the  same,  in  the  which  is  a  continual  spring  of  ruii"* 
Oing  water,  of  such  marvelous  virtue,  that  the  water  thereof 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  327 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

OBUISE  OP  JUAN  PONCE  DE  LEON  IN  SEARCH  OF  TIU 
FOUNTAIN  OF  YOUTH. 

[1512.] 

It  was  on  the  third  of  March,  15 12,  that  Juan 
Police  sailed  with  his  three  ships  from  the  port  of 
St.  Germain  in  the  island  of  Porto  Rico.  He 
kept  for  some  distance  along  the  coast  of  His- 
paniola,  and  then,  stretching  away  to  the  north- 
ward, made  for  the  Bahama  Islands,  and  soon  fell 
in  with  the  first  of  the  group.  He  was  favored 
with  propitious  weather  and  tranquil  seas,  and 
glided  smoothly  with  wind  and  current  along  that 
verdant  archipelago,  visiting  one  island  after  an- 
other, until,  on  the  fourteenth  of  the  month,  he 
arrived  at  Guanahani,  or  St.  Salvador,  where 
Christopher  Columbus  had  first  put  his  foot  on 
the  shores  of  the  New  World.  His  inquiries  for 
the  island  of  Bimini  were  all  in  vain,  and  as  to 

being  drunk,  perhaps  with  some  diet,  maketh  olde  men  young 
again.  And  here  I  must  make  protestation  to  your  holiness 
not  to  think  this  to  be  said  lightly  or  rashly,  for  tl«y  have  so 
opread  this  rumor  for  a  truth  throughout  all  the  court,  that 
not  only  all  the  people,  but  also  many  of  them  whom  wisdom 
or  fortune  hath  divided  from  the  common  sort,  think  it  to  be 
true;  but,  if  you  will  ask  my  opinion  herein,  I  will  answer, 
that  I  will  not  attribute  so  great  power  to  nature,  but  that  God 
hath  no  less  reserved  this  prerogative  to  himself  than  to  bearch 
^he  hearts  of  men,"  &c. —  P.  Martyr,  decad.  u.  cap.  10,  Lok'a 
translation. 


328       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


the  fountain  of  youth,  he  may  have  drank  of  every 
fountain,  and  river,  and  lake,  in  the  archipelago, 
even  to  the  salt  pools  of  Turk's  Island,  without 
being  a  whit  the  younger. 

Still  he  was  not  discouraged ;  but,  having  re- 
paired his  ships,  he  again  put  to  sea  and  shaped 
his  course  to  the  north-west.  On  Sunday,  the 
27th  of  March,  he  came  in  sight  of  what  he  sup- 
posed to  be  an  island,  but  was  prevented  from 
landing  by  adverse  weather.  He  continued  hover- 
ing about  it  for  several  days,  buffeted  by  the  ele- 
ments, until,  in  the  night  of  the  second  of  April, 
he  succeeded  in  coming  to  anchor  under  the  land, 
in  thirty  degrees  eight  minutes  of  latitude.  The 
whole  country  was  in  the  fresh  bloom  of  spring ; 
the  trees  were  gay  with  blossoms,  and  the  fields 
covered  with  flowers  ;  from  which  circumstance,  as 
well  as  from  having  discovered  it  on  Palm  Sunday 
(Pascua  Florida),  he  gave  it  the  name  of  Florida, 
which  it  retains  to  the  present  day.  The  Indian 
name  of  the  country  was  Cautio.^ 

Juan  Ponce  landed,  ixnd  took  possession  of  the 
country  in  the  name  of  the  Castilian  sovereigns. 
He  afterwards  continued  for  several  weeks  rang-, 
ing  the  coast  of  this  flowery  land,  and  struggling 
against  tlie  Gulf  Stream  and  the  various  currents 
which  sweep  it.  He  doubled  Cape  Canaveral, 
and  reconnoitred  the  southern  and  eastern  shores 
without  suspecting  that  this  was  a  part  of  Terra 
Firma.  In  all  his  attempts  to  explore  the  coun- 
try, he  met  with  resolute  and  implacable  hostility 
on  the  part  of 'the  natives,  who  appeared  to  be 
^  Herrera,  Hbt.  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  ix.  cap.  10. 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS.  329 


a  fierce  and  warlike  race.  He  was  disappointed 
also  in  his  hopes  of  finding  gold,  nor  did  any  of 
the  rivers  or  fountains  which  he  examined,  pos- 
sess  the  rejuvenating  virtue.  Convinced,  tlicre- 
fore,  that  this  was  not  the  promised  land  of  In- 
dian tradition,  he  turned  his  prow  homeward 
on  the  fourteenth  of  June,  with  the  intention, 
in  the  way,  of  making  one  more  attempt  to  find 
the  island  of  Bimini. 

In  the  outset  of  his  return,  he  discovered  a 
group  of  islets  abounding  with  sea- fowl  and  ma- 
rine animals.  On  one  of  them,  his  sailors,  in 
the  course  of  a  single  night,  caught  one  hundred 
and  seventy  turtles,  and  might  have  taken  many 
more  had  they  been  so  inclined.  They  likewise 
took  fourteen  sea-wolves,  and  killed  a  vast  quan- 
tity of  pelicans  and  other  birds.  To  this  group 
Juan  Ponce  gave  the  name  of  the  Tortugas,  or 
Turtles,  which  they  still  retain. 

Proceeding  in  his  cruise,  he  touched  at 
another  group  of  islets  near  the  Lucayos  to 
whom  he  gave  the  name  of  La  Vieja,  or  the  Old 
Woman  group,  because  he  found  no  inhabitant 
there  but  one  old  Indian  woman.l  This  ancient 
sibyl  he  took  on  board  his  ship,  to  give  him  in- 
formation about  the  labyrinth  of  islands  into 
which  he  was  entering,  and  perhaps  he  could 
not  have  had  a  more  suitable  guide  in  the  eccen- 
tric quest  he  was  making.  Notwithstanding  hei 
pilotage,  however,  he  was  exceedingly  baffled  and 
Derplexed  in  his  return  voyage  among  the  Ba- 
hama Islands,  for  he  was  forcing  his  way  as  il 
1  Herrera,  decad.  i.  hb.  ix. 


330       VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


v/ere  against  the  course  of  nature,  and  encoun* 
tering  the  currents  which  sweep  westward  along 
these  islands,  and  the  trade-wind  which  accom* 
panics  them.  For  a  long  time  he  struggled  with 
all  kinds  of  difficulties  and  dangers ;  and  was 
obliged  to  remain  upwards  of  a  month  in  one  of 
the  islands  to  repair  the  damages  which  his 
ship  had  suffered  in  a  storm. 

Disheartened  at  length  by  the  perils  and  triak 
with  which  nature  seemed  to  have  beset  the  ap- 
proach to  Bimini,  as  to  some  fairy  island  in 
romance,  he  gave  up  the  quest  in  person,  and 
sent  in  his  place  a  trusty  captain,  Juan  Perez  de 
Ortubia,  who  departed  in  one  of  the  other  ships, 
guided  by  the  experienced  old  woman  of  the  isles, 
and  by  another  Indian.  As  to  Juan  Ponce,  he 
made  the  best  of  his  way  back  to  Porto  Rico, 
where  he  arrived  infinitely  poorer  in  purse,  and 
wrinkled  in  brow,  by  this  cruise  after  inexhaus 
tible  riches  and  perpetual  youth. 

He  had  not  been  long  in  port  when  his  trusty 
envoy,  Juan  Perez,  likewise  arrived.  Guided 
by  the  sage  old  woman,  he  had  succeeded  iu 
finding  the  long-sought  for  Bimini.  He  de- 
scribed it  as  being  large,  verdant,  and  covered 
with  beautiful  groves.  There  were  crystal 
springs  and  limpid  streams  in  abundance,  which 
kept  the  island  in  perpetual  verdure,  but  none 
that  could  restore  to  an  old  man  the  vernal 
greeni^ess  of  his  youth. 

Thus  ended  the  romantic  expedition  of  Juao 
Ponce  de  Leon.  Like  many  other  pursuits  of 
a  chimera,  it  terminated  in  the  acquisition  of  a 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  331 


substantial  good.  Though  he  had  failed  in  linJ- 
ing  the  fairy  fountain  of  youth,  he  had  diseovereJ 
in  place  of  it  the  important  country  of  Florida.^ 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

EXPEDITION  OF  JUAN  PONCE  AGAINST  THE  CARIBS.— 
HIS  DEATH. 

[1514.] 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  now  repaired  to  Spain, 
to  make  a  report  of  his  voyage  to  King  Ferdi- 
nand. The  hardy  old  cavalier  experienced  much 
raillery  from  the  witlings  of  the  court,  on  ac- 
count of  his  visionary  voyage,  though  many 
wise  men  had  been  as  credulous  as  hiniself  at 
the  outset.  The  king,  however,  received  him 
with  great  favor,  and  conferred  on  him  the  title 
ol  Adelantado  of  Bimini  and  Florida,  which  last 
was  as  yet  considered  an  island.    Permission  was 

1  The  belief  of  the  existence,  in  Florida,  of  a  river  like  that 
sought  by  Juan  Ponce,  was  long  prevalent  among  the  Indiana 
of  Cuba,  and  the  caciques  were  anxious  to  discover  it.  That 
a  partj^of  the  natives  of  Cuba  once  went  in  search  of  it,  and 
remained  there,  appears  to  be  a  fact,  as  their  descendants  were 
afterwards  to  be  traced  among  the  people  of  Florida.  Las 
Casas  says,  that,  even  in  his  days,  many  persisted  in  seeking 
his  mystery,  and  some  thought  that  the  river  was  no  othel 
than  that  called  the  Jordan,  at  the  point  of  St.  Helena  ;  with- 
out considering  that  the  name  was  given  to  it  by  the  Spau« 
lards  in  the  \ear  1520,  when  they  discovered  the  land  of 
Ohicora. 


332 


VOYAGES   iND  DISCOVERIES  OF 


also  granted  him  to  recruit  men  either  in  Spain 
or  in  the  colonies,  for  a  settlement  in  Florida; 
but  he  deferred  entering  on  his  command  for  the 
present,  being  probably  discouraged  and  impover- 
ished by  the  losses  of  his  late  expedition,  or 
finding  a  difficulty  in  enlisting  adventurers.  At 
length  another  enterprise  presented  itself.  Tho 
Caribs  had  by  this  time  become  a  terror  to  the 
Spanish  inhabitants  of  many  of  the  islands, 
making  descents  upon  the  coasts  and  carrying  ofl 
captives,  who,  it  w^as  supposed,  were  doomed  to 
be  devoured  by  these  cannibals.  So  frequent 
were  their  invasions  of  the  island  of  Porto  Rico, 
that  it  was  feared  they  would  ultimately  oblige 
the  Spaniards  to  abandon  it. 

King  Ferdinand,  therefore,  in  1514,  ordered 
that  three  ships,  well  armed  and  manned,  should 
be  fitted  out  in  Seville,  destined  to  scour  the  isl- 
ands of  .the  Caribs,  and  to  free  the  seas  from  those 
cannibal  marauders.  The  command  of  the  ar- 
mada was  given  to  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  from 
his  knowledge  of  Indian  warfare,  and  his  varied 
and  rough  experience,  which  had  mingled  in  him 
the  soldier  with  the  sailor.  He  was  instructed  in 
the  first  place  to  assail  the  Caribs  of  those  islands 
most  contiguous  and  dangerous  to  Porto  Rico, 
and  then  make  war  on  those  of  the  coast  of 
Terra  Firma,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Carthagena. 
He  was  afterwards  to  take  the  captaincy  of  Porto 
Rico,  and  to  attend  to  the  repartimientos  or  dis- 
tributions of  the  Indians,  in  conjunction  with  a 
person  to  be  appointed  by  Diego  Columbus. 

The  enterprise  suited  the  soldier-like  spirit  of 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF  COLUMBUS,  333 


Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  the  gallant  old  cavalier 
set  sail  full  of  confidence,  in  January,  1515,  and 
steered  direct  for  the  Caribbees,  with  a  determin- 
ation to  give  a  wholesome  castigation  to  the 
whole  savage  archipelago.  Arriving  at  the  isl- 
and of  Guadaloupe,  he  cast  anchor,  and  sent  mea 
on  shore  for  wood  and  water,  and  women  to 
wash  the  clothing  of  the  crews,  with  a  party  of 
soldiers  to  mount  guard. 

Juan  Ponce  had  not  been  as  wary  as  usual,  for 
he  had  to  deal  with  savages  unusually  adroit  in 
warfare.  While  the  people  were  scattered  care- 
lessly on  the  shore,  the  Caribs  rushed  forth  from 
an  ambuscade,  killed  the  greater  part  of  the  men, 
and  carried  off  the  women  to  the  mountains. 

This  blow,  at  the  very  onset  of  his  vaunted 
expedition,  sank  deep  into  the  heart  of  Juan 
Ponce,  and  put  an  end  to  all  his  military  excite- 
ment. Humbled  and  mortified,  he  set  sail  for 
the  island  of  Porto  Rico,  where  he  relinquished 
all  further  prosecution  of  the  enterprise,  under 
the  pretext  of  ill  health,  and  gave  the  command 
of  the  squadron  to  a  captain  named  Zuniga ;  but 
it  is  surmised  that  his  malady  was  not  so  much 
of  the  flesh  as  of  the  spirit.  He  remained  in 
Porto  Rico  as  governor;  but  having  grown  testy 
and  irritable  through  vexations  and  disappoint- 
ments, he  gave  great  offense,  and  caused  much 
contention  on  the  island  by  positive  and  strong- 
handed  measures,  in  respect  to  the  distribution  of 
the  Indians. 

He  continued  for  several  years  in  that  island, 
m  a  state  of  growling  repose,  until  the  brilliant 


334       VOYAGJ£S  AJSD  DISCOVERIES  OF 


exploits  of  Hernando  Cortez,  which  threatened 
to  eclipse  the  achievements  of  all  the  veteran 
discoverers,  roused  his  dormant  spirit. 

Jealous  of  being  cast  in  the  shade  in  his  old 
days,  he  determined  to  sally  forth  on  one  more 
expedition.  He  had  heard  that  Florida,  w^hich 
he  had  discovered,  and  which  he  had  hitherto 
considered  a  mere  island,  was  part  of  Terra 
Firma,  possessing  vast  and  unknown  regions  in 
Its  bosom.  If  so,  a  grand  field  of  enterprise 
lay  before  him,  wherein  he  might  make  discover- 
ies and  conquests  to  rival,  if  not  surpass,  the  far- 
famed  conquest  of  Mexico. 

Accordingly,  in  the  year  1521  he  fitted  out 
two  ships  at  the  island  of  Porto  Rico,  and  era- 
barked  almost  the  whole  of  his  property  in  the 
undertaking.  His  voyage  was  toilsome  and  tem- 
pestuous, but  at  length  he  arrived  at  the  wished- 
for  land.  He  made  a  descent  upon  the  coast 
with  a  great  part  of  his  men,  but  the  Indians 
sallied  forth  with  unusual  valor  to  defend  their 
shores.  A  bloody  battle  ensued  ;  several  of  the 
Spaniards  were  slain,  and  Juan  Ponce  was 
wounded  by  an  arrow  in  the  thigh.  He  was 
borne  on  board  his  ship,  and  finding  himself  dis- 
abled for  further  action,  set  sail  for  Cuba,  where 
he  arrived  ill  in  body  and  dejected  in  heart. 

He  was  of  an  age  where  there  is  no  longer 
prompt  and  healthful  reaction,  either  mental  or 
corporeal.  The  irritations  of  humiliated  pride 
and  disappointed  hope,  exasperated  the  fever  of 
his  wound,  and  he  died  soon  after  his  arrival  at 
the  island.    "  Thus  fate,"  says  one  of  the  quaint 


THE  COMPANIONS  OF   COLUMBUS.  335 

old  Spanish  writers,  "  delights  to  reverse  the 
Bchernes  of  man.  The  discovery  that  Juan  Ponco 
flattered  himself  was  to  lead  to  a  means  of  per- 
petuating his  life,  had  the  ultimate  effect  of 
hastening  his  death." 

It  may  be  said,  however,  that  he  has  at  least 
attained  the  shadow  of  his  desire,  since,  though 
disappointed  in  extending  the  natural  term  of 
his  existence,  his  discovery  had  insured  a  lasting 
duration  to  his  name. 

The  following  epitaph  was  inscribed  upon  his 
tomb,  which  does  justice  to  the  warrior  qualities 
of  the  stout  old  cavalier  : 

Mole  sub  hac  fortis  requiescunt  ossa  Leonis 
Qui  vicit  factis  nomina  magna  suis. 

It  has  thus  been  paraphrased  in  Spanish  by 
the  Licentiate  Juan  de  Castellanos : 

Aqueste  lugar  estrecho 
Es  sepulchro  del  varon, 
Que  en  el  nombre  fue  Leon, 
Y  mucho  mas  en  el  hecho. 

"In  this  sepulchre  rest  the  bones  of  a  man, 
who  was  a  lion  by  name  and  still  more  by  na- 
ture.'' 


APPENDIX : 

CONTAINING 

ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  DOCUMENTa 


TOL.  ni.  Si 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

TRANSPORTATION  OF  THE  REMAINS  OF  COLUMBUS 
FROM  ST.  DOMINGO  TO  THE  HAVANA. 

At  the  termination  of  a  war  between  France  and 
Spain,  in  1795,  all  the  Spanish  possessions  in  the  isl- 
and of  Hispanioia  were  ceded  to  France,  by  the  9th 
article  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  To  assist  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  cession,  a  Spanish  squadron  was 
dispatched  to  the  island  at  the  appointed  tpme,  com- 
manded by  Don  Gabriel  de  Aristizabal,  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  royal  armada.  On  the  11th  Decem- 
ber, 1795,  that  commander  wrote  to  the  field-marshal 
and  governor,  Don  Joaquin  Garcia,  resident  at  St. 
Domingo,  that,  being  informed  that  the  remains  of 
the  celebrated  admiral  Don  Christopher  Columbus 
lay  in  the  cathedral  of  that  city,  he  felt  it  incumbent 
on  him  as  a  Spaniard,  and  as  commander-in-chief  of 
his  majesty's  squadron  of  operations,  to  solicit  the 
translation  of  the  ashes  of  that  hero  to  the  island  of 
Cuba,  which  had  likewise  been  discovered  by  him, 
and  where  he  had  first  planted  the  standard  of  the 
cross.  He  expressed  a  desire  that  this  should  be 
done  officially,  and  with  great  care  and  formality, 
that  it  might  nd  t  remain  in  the  power  of  any  one,  by 


540 


APPENDIX. 


a  careless  transportation  of  these  honored  remains,  to 
lose  a  relic,  connected  "vvith  an  event  which  formed 
the  most  glorious  epoch  of  Spanish  history,  and  that 
it  might  be  manifested  to  all  nations,  that  Spaniards, 
notwithstanding  the  lapse  of  ages,  never  ceased  to 
pay  all  honors  to  the  remains  of  that  "  worthy  and 
adventurous  general  of  the  seas  ;  "  nor  abandoned 
them,  when  the  various  public  bodies,  representing 
the  Spanish  dominion,  emigrated  from  the  island. 
As  he  had  not  time,  without  great  inconvenience,  to 
consult  the  sovereign  on  this  subject,  he  had  recourse 
to  the  governor,  as  royal  vice-patron  of  the  island, 
hoping  that  his  solicitation  might  be  granted,  and  the 
remains  of  the  admiral  exhumed  and  conveyed  to 
the  island  of  Cuba,  in  the  ship  San  Lorenzo. 

The  generous  wishes  of  this  high-minded  Span- 
iard met  with  warm  concurrence  on  the  part  of  the 
governor.  He  informed  him  in  reply,  that  the  Duke 
of  Yeraguas,  lineal  successor  of  Columbus,  had  man- 
ifested the  same  solicitude,  and  had  sent  directions 
that  the  necessary  measures  should  be  taken  at  his 
expense ;  and  had  at  the  same  time  expressed  a  wish 
that  the  bones  of  the  Adelantado,  Don  Bartholomew 
Columbus,  should  likewise  be  exhumed  ;  transmitting 
inscriptions  to  be  put  upon  the  sepulchres  of  both. 
Pie  added,  that  although  the  king  had  given  no  or- 
ders on  the  subject,  yet  the  proposition  being  so  ac- 
cordant with  the  grateful  feelings  of  the  Spanish  na- 
tion, and  meeting  with  the  concurrence  of  all  the 
authorities  of  the  island,  he  was  ready  on  his  part  to 
carry  it  into  execution. 

The  commandant-general  Aristlzabal  then  made  a 
similar  communication  to  the  archbishop  of  Cuba, 
Don  Fernando  Portillo  y  Torres,  whose  metropolis 
was  then  the  city  of  St.  Domingo,  hoping  to  receive 
bis  countenance  and  aid  in  this  pious  undertaking. 


APPENDIX. 


341 


The  reply  of  the  arcliblshop  was  couched  in  terms 
of  high  courtesy  towards  the  gallant  commander,  and 
deep  reverence  for  the  memory  of  Columbus,  and 
expressed  a  zeal  in  rendering  this  tribute  of  gratitude 
and  respect  to  the  remains  of  one  who  had  done  so 
much  for  the  glory  of  the  nation. 

The  persons  empowered  to  act  for  the  Duke  of 
Veraguas,  the  venerable  dean  and  chapter  of  the 
cathedral,  and  all  the  other  persons  and  authorities  to 
whom  Don  Gabriel  de  Aristizabal  made  similar  com- 
munications, manifested  the  same  eagerness  to  assist 
in  the  performance  of  this  solemn  and  affecting  rite. 

The  worthy  commander  Aristizabal,  having  taken 
all  these  preparatory  steps  with  great  form  and 
punctilio,  so  as  that  the  ceremony  should  be  per- 
formed in  a  public  and  striking  manner,  suitable  to 
the  fame  of  Columbus,  the  whole  was  carried  into 
effect  with  becoming  pomp  and  solemnity. 

On  the  20th  December,  1795,  the  most  distin- 
guished persons  of  the  place,  the  dignitaries  of  th(3 
church,  and  civil  and  military  officers,  assembled  in 
the  metropolitan  cathedral.  In  the  presence  of  this 
august  assemblage,  a  small  vault  was  opened  above 
the  chancel,  in  the  principal  wall  on  the  right  side 
of  the  high  altar.  Within  were  found  the  fragments 
of  a  leaden  coffin,  a  number  of  bones,  and  a  quan- 
tity of  mould,  evidently  the  remains  of  a  human 
body.  These  were  carefully  collected  and  put  into 
a  case  of  gilded  lead,  about  half  an  ell  in  length  and 
breadth,  and  a  third  in  height,  secured  by  an  iron 
lock,  the  key  of  which  was  delivered  to  the  arch- 
bishop. The  case  was  inclosed  in  a  coffin  covered 
with  black  velvet,  and  ornamented  with  lace  and 
fringe  of  gold.  The  whole  was  then  placed  in  a 
temporary  tomb  or  mausoleum. 

On  the  following  day,  there  was  another  grand 


342 


APPENDIX. 


convocation  at  the  cathedral,  when  the  vigils  anil 
masses  for  the  dead  were  solemnly  chanted  by  the 
archbishop,  accompanied  by  the  commandant-geneira 
of  the  armada,  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  friars, 
and  the  friars  of  the  Order  of  Mercy,  together  with 
the  rest  of  the  distinguished  assemblage.  After  thia 
a  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the  archbishop. 

On  the  same  day,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
the  coffin  was  transported  to  the  ship  with  the  ut- 
most state  and  ceremony,  with  a  civil,  religious,  and 
military  procession,  banners  wrapped  in  mourning, 
chants  and  responses  and  discharges  of  artillery. 
The  most  distinguished  persons  of  the  several  Ordei^ 
took  turn  to  Fupport  the  coffin.  The  key  was  taken 
with  great  formality  from  the  hands  of  the  arch- 
bishop by  the  governor,  and  given  into  the  hands  of 
the  commander  of  the  armada,  to  be  delivered  by 
him  to  the  governor  of  the  Havana,  to  be  held  in 
deposit  until  the  pleasure  of  the  king  should  be 
known.  The  coffin  was  received  on  board  of  a  brig- 
antine  called  the  Discoverer,  which,  with  all  the  other 
shipping,  displayed  mourning  signals,  and  saluted  the 
remains  with  the  honors  paid  to  an  admiral. 

From  the  port  of  St.  Domingo  the  coffin  was  con- 
veyed to  the  bay  of  Ocoa  and  there  transferred  to 
the  ship  San  Lorenzo.  It  was  accompanied  by  a 
portrait  of  Columbus,  sent  from  Spain  by  the  Duke 
of  Veraguas,  to  be  suspended  close  by  the  place 
where  the  remains  of  his  illustrious  ancestor  should 
be  deposited. 

The  ship  immediately  made  sail  and  arrived  at 
Havana  in  Cuba,  on  the  15th  of  January,  1796. 
Here  the  same  deep  feeling  of  reverence  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  discoverer  was  evinced.  The  principal 
authorities  repaired  on  board  of  the  ship,  accompa- 
lied  by  the  superior  naval  and  military  officers 


APPENDIX. 


348 


Everything  was  conducted  with  tliu  same  circum- 
stantial and  solemn  ceremonial.  The  remains  were 
removed  with  great  reverence,  and  placed  in  a  fe- 
lucca, in  which  they  were  conveyed  to  land  in  the 
midst  of  a  procession  of  three  columns  of  feluccas 
and  boats  in  the  royal  service,  all  properly  decorated, 
containing  distinguished  military  and  ministerial  ofli 
cers.  Two  feluccas  followed,  in  one  of  which  was  a 
marine  guard  of  honor,  with  mourning  banners  and 
muffled  drums ;  and  in  the  other  were  the  command- 
ant-general, the  principal  minister  of  marine,  and 
the  military  staff.  In  passing  the  vessels  of  war  in 
the  harbor,  they  all  paid  the  honors  due  to  an  admiral 
and  captain-general  of  the  navy.  On  arriving  at 
the  Mole,  the  remains  were  met  by  the  governor  of 
the  island,  accompanied  by  the  generals  and  the  mil 
itary  staff.  The  coffin  was  then  conveyed  between 
files  of  soldiery  which  lined  the  streets  to  the  obelisk, 
in  the  place  of  arms,  where  it  was  received  in  a 
hearse  prepared  for  the  purpose.  Here  the  remains 
were  formally  delivered  to  the  governor  and  captain- 
general  of  the  island,  the  key  given  up  to  him,  the 
coffin  opened  and  examined,  and  the  safe  transporta- 
tion of  its  contents  authenticated.  This  ceremony 
being  concluded,  it  was  conveyed  in  grand  procession 
and  with  the  utmost  pomp  to  the  cathedral.  Masses, 
and  the  solemn  ceremonies  of  the  dead  were  per- 
formed by  the  bishop,  and  the  mortal  remains  of  Co- 
lumbus deposited  with  great  reverence  in  the  wall  on 
the  right  side  of  the  grand  altar.  "  All  these  hon- 
ors and  ceremonies,"  says  the  document,  from  whence 
this  notice  is  digested,^  "  were  attended  by  the  eccle- 
eiastical  and  secular  dignitaries,  the  public  bodies  and 
ftll  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Havana,  in  proof  of 
the  high  estimation  and  respectful  remembrance  iq 
^  Navarrete,  Colec.  torn.  11.  p.  365. 


344 


APPENDIX. 


which  they  held  the  hero  who  had  tllscovered  the 
New  World,  and  had  been  the  first  to  plant  the 
standard  of  the  cross  on  that  island." 

This  is  the  last  occasion  that  the  Spanish  nation 
has  had  to  testify  its  feelings  towards  the  memory  of 
Columbus,  and  it  is  with  deep  satisfaction  that  the 
author  of  this  work  has  been  able  to  cite  at  large  a 
ceremonial  so  solemn,  affecting,  and  noble  in  its  de- 
tails, and  so  honorable  to  the  national  character. 

When  we  read  of  the  remains  of  Columbus,  thus 
conveyed  from  the  port  of  St.  Domingo,  after  an  in- 
terval of  nearly  three  hundred  years,  as  sacred  na- 
tional relics,  with  civic  and  military  pomp,  and  high 
religious  ceremonial ;  the  most  dignified  and  illustri- 
ous men  striving  who  most  should  pay  them  rever- 
ence ;  we  cannot  but  reflect  that  it  was  from  this 
very  port  he  was  carried  off,  loaded  with  ignominious 
chains,  blasted  apparently  in  fame  and  fortune,  and 
followed  by  the  revilings  of  the  rabble.  Such  hon- 
ors, it  is  true,  are  nothing  to  the  dead,  nor  can  they 
atone  to  the  heart,  now  dust  and  ashes,  for  all  the 
wrongs  and  sorrows  it  may  have  suffered  :  but  they 
speak  volumes  of  comfort  to  the  illustrious,  yet  slan- 
deied  and  persecuted  living,  encouraging  them  brave- 
ly to  bear  with  present  injuries,  by  showing  them 
how  true  merit  outlives  all  calumny,  and  receives  itjf 
glorious  reward  in  the  admiration  of  after  ages. 


No.  II. 

NOTICE  OF  THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  COLUMBUO. 


On  the  death  of  Columbus  his  son  Diego  suc- 
seeded  to  his  rights,  as  viceroy  and  governor  of  the 


APPENDIX. 


345 


New  World,  according  to  the  express  capitulations 
between  the  sovereigns  and  his  father.  He  appears,, 
by  the  general  consent  of  historians,  to  have  been  a 
man  of  great  integrity,  of  respectable  talents,  and  of 
a  frank  and  generous  nature.  Herrera  speaks  re- 
peatedly of  the  gentleness  and  urbanity  of  his  man- 
ners, and  pronounces  him  of  a  noble  disposition  and 
without  deceit.  This  absence  of  all  guile  frequently 
laid  him  open  to  the  stratagems  of  crafty  men,  grown 
old  in  deception,  who  rendered  his  -life  a  continued 
series  of  embarrassments  ;  but  the  probity  of  his  char- 
acter, with  the  irresistible  power  of  truth,  bore  him 
through  difficulties  in  which  more  politic  and  subtle 
men  would  have  been  entangled  and  completely  lost. 

Inmiediately  after  the  death  of  the  admiral,  Don 
Diego  came  forward  as  lineal  successor,  and  urged 
the  restitution  of  the  family  offices  and  privileges, 
which  had  been  suspended  during  the  latter  years  of 
his  father's  life.  If  the  cold  and  wary  Ferdinand, 
however,  could  forget  his  obligations  of  gratitude  and 
justice  to  Columbus,  he  had  less  difficulty  in  turning 
a  deaf  ear  to  the  solicitations  of  his  son.  For  two 
years  Don  Diego  pressed  his  suit  with  fruitless  dili- 
gence. He  felt  the  apparent  distrust  of  the  mon- 
arch the  more  sensibly,  from  having  been  brought  up 
under  his  eye,  as  a  page  in  the  royal  household, 
where  his  character  ought  to  be  well  known  and  ap- 
preciated. At  length,  on  the  return  of  Ferdinand 
from  Naples  in  1508,  he  put  to  him  a  direct  ques- 
tion, with  the  frankness  attributed  to  his  character. 
He  demanded  "  why  his  majesty  would  not  grant  to 
him  as  a  favor,  that  which  was  his  right,  and  why  he 
hesitated  to  confide  in  the  fidelity  of  one  who  had 
been  reared  in  his  house."  Ferdinand  replied  that 
he  could  fully  confide  in  him,  but  could  not  repose  so 
great  a  trust  at  a  venture  in  his  children  and  succes- 


346 


APPENDIX 


sors.  To  this  Don  Diego  rejoined,  that  it  was  con"- 
traiy  to  all  justice  and  reason  to  make  him  suffer  fof 
the  sins  of  his  children  who  might  never  be  born.^ 

Still,  though  he  had  reason  and  justice  on  his  side, 
the  young  admiral  found  it  impossible  to  bring  the 
wary  monarch  to  a  compliance.  Finding  all  appea) 
to  all  his  ideas  of  equity  or  sentiments  of  generosity 
in  vain,  he  solicited  permission  to  pursue  his  claim  \v 
the  ordinary  course  of  law.  TLe  king  could  not 
refuse  so  reasortable  a  request,  and  Don  Diego  com- 
menced a  process  against  King  Ferdinand  before  the 
council  of  the  Indies,  founded  on  the  repeated  capitu- 
lations between  the  crown  and  his  father,  and  embrac- 
ing all  the  dignities  and  immunities  ceded  by  them. 

One  ground  of  opposition  to  these  claims  was,  that 
if  the  capitulation  made  by  the  sovereigns  in  1492, 
had  granted  a  perpetual  viceroyalty  to  the  admiral 
and  his  heirs,  such  grant  couhl  not  stand  ;  being  con- 
trary to  the  interest  of  the  state,  and  to  an  express 
law  promulgated  in  Toledo  in  1480  ;  wherein  it  was 
ordained  that  no  office,  involving  the  administration 
of  justice,  should  be  given  in  perpetuity  ;  that  there- 
fore, the  viceroyalty  granted  to  the  admiral  could 
only  have  been  for  his  life  ;  and  that,  even  during 
that  term,  it  had  justly  been  taken  from  him  for  his 
misconduct.  That  such  concessions  were  contrary  to 
the  inherent  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  of  which  the 
government  could  not  divest  itself  To"  this  Don 
Diego  replied,  that  as  to  the  validity  of  the  capitula- 
tion, it  was  a  binding  contract,  and  noce  of  its  priv- 
ileges ought  to  be  restricted.  That  as  by  royal 
schedules  dated  in  Villa  Franca,  June  2d,  1506,  and 
Almazan,  Aug.  28,  1507,  it  had  been  ordered  that 
he,  Don  Diego,  should  receive  the  tenths,  so  equally 
dught  the  other  privileges  to  be  accorded  to  hiiu. 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.  decad.  ii.  lib.  vii.  cap.  4. 


APPENDIX,  347 

As  to  the  allegation  tliat  his  fatiur  had  Lecn  cle« 
prived  of  his  viceroyalty  for  his  demerits,  it  was  col- 
trary  to  all  truth.  It  had  been  audacity  on  the  part 
of  Bobadilla  to  send  him  a  prisoner  to  Spain  in 
1500,  and  contrary  to  the  will  and  command  of  the 
sovereigns,  as  was  proved  by  their  letter,  dated  from 
Valencia  de  la  Torre  in  1502,  in  which  they  ex- 
pressed grief  at  his  arrest,  and  assured  him  that  it- 
should  be  redressed,  and  his  privileges  guarded  en- 
tire to  himself  and  his  children.-^ 

This  memorable  suit  was  commenced  in  1508,  and 
continued  for  several  years.  In  the  course  of  it  the 
claims  of  Don  Diego  were  disputed  likewise,  on  the 
plea  that  his  father  was  not  the  original  discoverer 
of  Terra  Firma,  but  only  subsequently  of  certain 
portions  of  it.  This,  however,  was  completely  con- 
troverted by  overwhelming  testimony.  The  claims 
of  Don  Diego  were  mini^tely  discussed  and  rigidly 
examined  ;  and  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  coun- 
cil of  the  Indies  in  his  favor,  while  it  reflected  honor 
on  the  justice  and  independence  of  that  body,  si- 
lenced many  petty  caviiers  at  the  fair  fame  of  Co- 
lumbus.^ ^Notwithstanding  this  decision,  the  wily 
monarch  wanted  neither  means  nor  pretexts  to  delay 
the  ceding  of  such  vast  powers,  so  repugnant  to  his 
cautious  policy.  The  young  admiral  was  finally  in- 
debted for  his  success  in  this  suit  to  previous  success 
attained  in  a  suit  of  a  different  nature.  He  had 
become  enamored  of  Dona  Maria  de  Toledo,  daugh- 
ter of  Fernando  de  Toledo,  grand  commander  of 
Leon,  and  niece  to  Don  Fadrique  de  Toledo,  the  cel- 
ebrated Duke  of  Alva,  chief  favorite  of  the  king. 

1  Extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  process  taken  by  the  his- 
torian Munoz,  MS. 

2  Further  mention  will  be  found  of  this  lawsuit  in  the  arti» 
tide  relative  to  Amerigo  Vespucci. 


348 


APPENDIX. 


This  was  aspiring  to  a  high  connection.  The  father 
and  uncle  of  the  lady  were  the  most  powerful 
grandees  of  the  proud  kingdom  of  Spain,  and  cous- 
ins german  to  Ferdinand.  The  glory,  however 
which  Columbus  had  left  behind,  rested  upon  his 
children,  and  the  claims  of  Don  Diego,  recently  con- 
^rmed  by  the  council,  involved  dignities  and  wealth 
sufficient  to  raise  him  to  a  level  with  the  loftiest  alli- 
ance. He  found  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  hand 
of  the  lady,  and  thus  was  the  foreign  family  of  Co- 
lumbus ingrafted  on  one  of  the  proudest  races  ot 
Spain.  The  natural  consequences  followed.  Diego 
had  secured  that  magical  power  called  ^'  connec- 
tions ; "  and  the  favor  of  Ferdinand,  which  had  been 
BO  long  withheld  from  him,  as  the  son  of  Columbus, 
shone  upon  him,  though  coldly,  as  the  nephew  of  the 
Duke  of  Alva.  The  father  and  uncle  of  his  bride 
succeeded,  though  with  great  difficulty,  in  conquer- 
ing the  repugnance  of  the*  monarch,  and  after  all  he 
but  granted  in  part  the  justice  they  required.  He 
ceded  to  Don  Diego  merely  the  dignities  and  powers 
enjoyed  by  Nicholas  de  Ovando,  who  was  recalled 
and  he  cautiously  withheld  the  title  of  viceroy. 

The  recall  of  Ovando  was  not  merely  a  measure 
to  make  room  for  Don  Diego,  it  was  the  tardy  per- 
formance of  a  promise  made  to  Isabella  on  her  death- 
bed. The  expiring  queen  had  demanded  it  as  a 
punishment  for  the  massacre  of  her  poor  Indian  sub- 
jects at  Xaragua,  and  the  cruel  and  ignominious  ex- 
ecution of  the  female  cacique  Anacaona.  Thus 
retribution  was  continually  going  its  rounds  in  the 
checkered  destinies  of  this  island,  which  has  ever 
presented  a  little  epitome  of  human  history  ;  its  er- 
rors and  crimes,  and  consequent  disasters. 

In  complying  with  the  request  of  the  queen,  how« 
ever,  Ferdinand  was  favorable  towards  Ovando.  He 


APPENDIX. 


349 


did  not  feel  the  same  generous  sympathies  with  hi^i 
late  consort,  and,  however  Ovando  had  sinned 
against  humanity  in  his  treatment  of  the  Indians,  he 
had  been  a  vigilant  officer,  and  his  very  oppressions 
had  in  geneial  proved  profitable  to  the  crown.  Fer- 
dinand directed  that  the  fleet  which  took  out  the 
new  governor  should  return  under  the  command  of 
Ovando,  and  that  he  should  retain  undisturbed  en* 
joyment  of  any  property  or  Indian  slaves  that  might 
be  found  in  his  possession.  Some  have  represented 
Ovando  as  a  man  far  from  mercenary ;  that  the 
wealth  wrung  from  the  miseries  of  the  natives  was 
for  his  sovereign,  not  for  himself ;  and  it  is  intimated 
that  one  secret  cause  of  his  disgrace  was  his  having: 
made  an  enemy  of  the  all-powerful  and  unforgiving 
Fonseca.-^ 

The  new  admiral  embarked  at  St.  Lucar,  June  9, 
1509,  with  his  wife,  his  brother  Don  Fernando,  who 
was  now  grown  to  man's  estate,  and  had  been  well 
educated,  and  his  two  uncles,  Don  Bartholomew  and 
Don  Diego.  They  were  accompanied  by  a  numerous 
retinue  of  cavaliers,  with  their  wives,  and  of  young 
ladies  of  rank  and  family,  more  distinguished,  it  is 
hinted,  for  high  blood  than  large  fortime,  and  who 
were  sent  out  to  find  wealthy  husbands  in  the  New 
World.2 

Though  the  king  had  not  granted  Don  Diego  the 
dignity  of  viceroy,  the  title  was  generally  given  to 
him  by  courtesy,  and  his  wife  was  universally  ad- 
dressed by  that  of  vice-queen. 

Don  Diego  commenced  his  rule  with  a  degree  of 
splendor  hitherto  unknown  in  the  colony.  The  vice^ 
queen,  who  was  a  lady  of  great  desert  surrounded  by 
the  noble  cavaliers  and  the  young  ladies  of  family' 

1  Charlevoix,  \\i  supra,  v.  1,  p.  272,  id.  274. 

2  Las  Casas,  lib.  ii.  cap.  49.  MS. 


350 


APPENDIX. 


who  had  come  m  her  retinue,  established  a  sort  of 
eouit,  which  threw  a  degree  of  lustre  over  the  half 
savage  island.  The  young  ladies  were  soon  married 
to  the  wealthiest  colonists,  and  contributed  greatly  to 
soften  those  rude  manners  which  had  grown  up  in  a 
state  of  society  hitherto  destitute  of  the  salutary  re- 
straint and  pleasing  decorum  produced  by  female  in* 
flucnce. 

Don  Diego  had  considered  his  appointment  in  the 
light  of  a  viceroyalty,  but  the  king  soon  took  meas- 
ures which  showed  that  he  admitted  of  no  such  pre- 
tension. Without  any  reference  to  Don  Diego,  he 
divided  the  coast  of  Darien  into  two  great  provinces, 
separated  by  an  imaginary  line  running  through  the 
Gulf  of  Uraba,  appointing  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  governor 
of  the  eastern  province,  which  he  called  New  Anda- 
lusia, and  Diego  de  Nicuesa,  governor  of  the  western 
province,  which  included  the  rich  coast  of  Yeragua, 
and  which  he  called  Castilla  del  Oro,  or  Golden 
Castile.  Had  the  monarch  been  swayed  by  princi- 
ples of  justice  and  gratitude,  the  settlement  of  this 
coast  would  have  been  given  to  the  Adelantado,  Don 
Bartholomew  Columbus,  who  had  assisted  in  the  dis- 
covery of  the  country,  and,  together  with  his  brother 
the  admiral,  had  suffered  so  greatly  in  the  enterprise. 
Even  his  superior  abiUties  for  the  task  should  have 
pointed  him  out  to  the  policy  of  the  monarch  ;  but 
the  cautious  and  calculating  Ferdinand  knew  the 
lofty  spirit  of  the  Adelantado,  and  that  he  would  be 
disposed  to  demand  high  and  dignified  terms.  He 
passed  him  by,  therefore,  and  preferred  more  eagsr 
and  accommodating  adventurers. 

Don  Diego  was  greatly  aggrieved  at  this  measure^ 
thus  adopted  without  his  participation  or  knowledge 
He  justly  considered  it  an  infringement  of  the  capitu- 
lations granted  and  repeatedly  confirmed  to  his  fa- 


APPENDIX. 


351 


ther  and  bis  heirs.  He  had  furtlier  vexations  and 
difficulties  with  respect  to  the  government  of  the  isl- 
and of  St.  Juan,  or  Porto  Rico,  which  was  con- 
quered and  settled  about  this  time ;  but  after  a  vari- 
el  Y  of  cross  purposes,  the  officers  whom  he  appointed 
were  ultimately  recognized  by  the  crown. 

Like  his  father,  he  had  to  contend  with  malig- 
want  factions  in  his  government ;  for  the  enemies  of 
the  father  transferred  their  enmity  to  the  son.  There 
was  one  Miguel  Pasamonte,  the  king's  treasurer,  who 
became  his  avowed  enemy,  under  the  support  and 
chiefly  at  the  instigation  of  the  Bishop  Fonseca,  who 
continued  to  the  son  the  implacable  hostility  which 
he  had  manifested  to  the  father.  A  variety  of  triv- 
ial circumstances  contributed  to  embroil  him  with 
some  of  the  petty  officers  of  the  colony,  and  there 
was  a  remnant  of  the  followers  of  Roldan  who  ar- 
rayed themselves  against  him.-^ 

Two  factions  soon  arose  in  the  island ;  one  of  the 
admiral,  the  other  of  the  treasurer  Pasamonte.  The 
latter  affected  to  call  themselves  the  party  of  the 
king.  They  gave  all  possible  molestation  to  Don 
Diego,  and  sent  home  the  most  virulent  and  absurd 
misrepresentations  of  his  conduct.  Among  others, 
they  represented  a  large  house  with  many  windows 
which  he  was  building,  as  intended  for  a  fortress,  and 
asserted  that  he  had  a  design  to  make  himself  sover- 
eign of  the  island.  King  Ferdinand,  who  was  now 
advancing  in  years,  had  devolved  the  affairs  of  the 
Indies  in  a  great  measure  on  Fonseca,^  who  had 
eaperintended  them  from  the  first,  and  he  was  greatly 
guide  1  by  the  advice  of  that  prelate,  which  was  not 
likeh  to  be  favorable  to  the  descendants  of  Colum- 
Ipus.     The  complaints  from  the  colonies  were  so  art* 

1  Herrera,  decad.  i.  lib.  vii.  cap.  12. 

2  Idem. 


352 


APPENDIX, 


fully  enforced,  therefore,  that  he  established  in  151C 
a  sovereign  court  at  St.  Domingo,  called  the  royal 
audience,  to  which  an  appeal  might  be  made  fi'onoi 
all  sentences  of  the  admiral,  even  in  cases  reserved 
hitherto  exclusively  for  the  crown.  Don  Diego  con- 
sidered this  a  suspicious  and  injurious  measure  in- 
tended to  demolish  his  authority. 

Frank,  open,  and  unsuspicious,  the  young  admiral 
was  not  formed  for  a  contest  with  the  crafty  poli- 
ticians arrayed  against  him,  who  were  ready  and 
adroit  in  seizing  upon  his  slightest  errors,  and  magni- 
fying them  into  crimes.  Difficulties  were  multiplied 
in  his  path  which  it  was  out  of  his  power  to  over- 
come. He  had  entered  upon  office  full  of  magnani- 
mous intentions  ;  determined  to  put  an  end  to  op- 
pression, and  correct  all  abuses ;  all  good  men 
therefore  had  rejoiced  at  his  appointment ;  but  he 
soon  found  that  he  had  overrated  his  strength,  and 
undervalued  the  difficulties  awaiting  him.  He  calcu- 
lated from  his  own  good  heart,  but  he  had  no  idea  of 
the  wicked  hearts  of  others.  He  was  opposed  to  the 
repartimientos  of  Indians,  that  source  of  all  kinds  of 
inhumanity  ;  but  he  found  all  the  men  of  wealth  in 
''he  colony,  and  most  of  the  important  persons  of 
the  court,  interested  in  maintaining  them.  He  per- 
ceived that  the  attempt  to  abolish  them  would  be 
dangerous,  and  the  result  questionable  :  at  the  same 
rime  this  abuse  was  a  source  of  immense  profit  to 
himself  Self-interest,  therefore,  combined  with 
other  considerations,  and  what  at  first  appeared  diffi^ 
cult,  seemed  presently  impracticable.  The  reparti- 
mientos continued  in  the  state  in  which  he  found 
them,  excepting  that  he  removed  such  of  the  super- 
intendents as  had  been  cruel  and  oppressive,  and 
Bubstituted  men  of  his  own  appointment,  who  prob- 
tbly  proved  equally  worthless.    His  friends  were 


APPENDIX. 


353 


disappointed,  his  enemies  encouraged ;  a  hue  and  cry 
was  raised  against  him  by  the  friends  of  those  he 
had  displaced  ;  and  it  was  even  said  that  if  Ovando 
had  not  died  about  this  time,  he  would  have  been 
sent  out  to  supplant  Don  Diego. 

The  subjugation  and  settlement  of  the  island  of 
Cuba  in  1510,  was  a  fortunate  event  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  present  admiral.  He  congratulated 
King  Ferdinand  on  having  acquired  the  largest  and 
most  beautiful  island  in  the  world  without  losing 
a  single  man.  The  intelligence  was  highly  accepta- 
ble to  the  king  ;  but  it  was  accompanied  by  a  great 
number  of  complaints  against  the  admiral.  Little 
affection  as  Ferdinand  felt  for  Don  Diego,  he  was 
Btill  aware  that  most  of  these  representations  were 
false,  and  had  their  origin  in  the  jealousy  and  envy 
of  his  enemies.  He  judged  it  expedient,  however, 
in  1512,  to  send  out  Don  Bartholomew  Columbus 
with  minute  instructions  to  his  nephew  the  admiral. 

Don  Bartholomew  still  retained  the  office  of  Ade- 
lantado  of  the  Indies ;  although  Ferdinand,  through 
selfish  motives,  detained  him  in  Spain,  while  he  em- 
ployed inferior  men  in  voyages  of  discovery.  He 
now  added  to  his  appointments  the  property  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  little  island  of  Mona  during  life,  and 
assigned  him  a  repartimiento  of  two  hundred  Indians, 
with  the  superintendence  of  the  mines  which  might 
be  discoveied  in  Cuba;  an  office  which  proved  very 
lucrative. 

Among  the  instructions  given  by  the  king  to  Don 
Diego,  he  directed  that,  in  consequence  of  the  reprp- 
eentatlons  of  the  Dominican  friars,  the  labor  of  the 
natives  should  be  reduced  to  one  third  ;  that  negro 
slaves  should  be  procured  from  Guinea  as  a  relief  to 

i  Charlevoix,  Hist.  St.  Domingo,  p.  321 
VOL.  III.  23 


354 


APPENDIX. 


the  Indians ;  ^  and  that  Carlb  slaves  should  be 
branded  on  the  leg,  to  prevent  other  Indians  from 
being  confounded  with  them  and  subjected  to  harsh 
treatment.'^ 

The  two  governors,  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  whom 
the  king  had  appointed  to  colonize  and  command  at 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  in  Terra  Firma,  having  failed 
in  their  undertaking,  the  sovereign,  in  1514,  wrote  to 
Hispaniola,  permitting  the  Adelantado,  Don  Barthol- 
omew, if  so  inclined,  to  take  charge  of  settling  the 
coast  of  Veragua,  and  to  govern  that  country  under 
the  admiral  Don  Diego,  conformably  to  his  privi- 
leges. Had  the  king  consulted  his  own  interest,  and 
the  deference  due  to  the  talents  and  services  of  the 
Adelantado,  this  measure  would  have  been  taken  at 
an  earlier  date.  It  was  now  too  late :  illness  pre- 
vented Don  Bartholomew  from  executing  the  enter- 
prise;  and  his  active  and  toilsome  life  was  drawing 
to  a  (dose. 

Many  calumnies  having  been  sent  home  to  Spain 
by  Pasamonte  and  other  enemies  of  Don  Diego,  and 
various  measures  being  taken  by  government,  which 
he  conceived  derogatory  to  his  dignity,  and  injurious 
to  his  privileges,  he  requested  and  obtained  permis- 
eion  to  repair  to  court,  that  he  might  explain  and 
vindicate  his  conduct.  He  departed,  accordingly,  on 
April  9th,  1515,  leaving  the  Adelantado  with  the 
vice-queen  Dona  Maria.  He  was  received  with  great 
honor  by  the  king  ;  and  he  merited  such  a  reception. 
He  had  succeeded  in  every  enterprise  he  liad  under 
taken  or  directed.  The  pearl  fishery  bad  been  suc- 
cessfully established  on  the  coast  of  Cubagua  ;  the 
islands  of  Cuba  and  of  Jamaica  had  been  subjected 
and  brought  under  cultivation- without  bloodshed; 
liis  conduct  as  governor  had  been  upright ;  and  be 

i  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  ix.  cap.  5-      2  Idem. 


APPENDIX. 


had  only  excited  the  representations  made  against 
him,  by  endeavoring  to  lessen  the  oppression  of  the 
natives.  The  king  ordered  that  all  processes  against 
hia  \tl  the  court  of  appeal  and  elsewhere,  for  dam- 
ages lone  to  individuals  in  regulating  the  repartimi- 
entos,  should  be  discontinued,  and  the  eases  sent  to 
himself  for  consideration.  But  with  all  these  favors, 
as  the  admiral  claimed  a  share  of  the  profits  of  the 
provinces  of  Castilla  del  Oro,  saying  that  it  was  dis- 
covered by  his  father,  as  the  names  of  its  places,  such 
as  Nombre  de  Dios,  Porto  Bello  and  el  Retrete, 
plainly  proved,  the  king  ordered  that  interrogatories 
should  be  made  among  the  mariners  who  had  sailed 
with  Christopher  Columbus,  in  the  hope  of  proving 
that  he  had  not  discovered  the  coast  of  Darien  nor 
the  Gulf  of  Uraba.  "  Thus,'*  adds  Herrera,  Don 
Diego  was  always  involved  in  litigations  with  the  fis- 
cal, so  that  he  might  truly  say  that  he  was  heir  to 
the  troubles  of  his  father."  ^ 

Not  long  after  the  departure  of  Don  Diego  from 
St.  Domingo,  his  uncle,  Don  Bartholomew,  ended  his 
active  and  laborious  life!  No  particulars  are  given 
of  his  death,  nor  is  there  mention  made  of  his  age, 
which  must  have  been  advanced.  King  Ferdinand 
is  said  to  have  expressed  great  concern  at  the  event, 
for  he  had  a  high  opinion  of  the  character  and  tal- 
ents of  the  Adelantado :  "  a  man,"  says  Herrera, 
"  of  not  less  worth  than  his  brother  the  admiral,  and 
who,  if  he  had  been  employed,  would  have  given 
great  proofs  of  it ;  for  he  was  an  excellent  seaman, 
valiant  and  of  great  heart."  ^  Charlevoix  attributes 
the  inaction  in  which  Don  Bartholomew  had  been 
suffered  to  remain  for  several  years,  to  the  jealousy 
and  Y>arsimony  of  the  king.    He  found  the  Lous* 

1  Herrera,  decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  7 

2  Idem,  decad.  i.  lib.  x.  cap.  16. 


356 


APPENDIX, 


already  too  powerful ;  and  the  Adelantado,  had  he 
discovered  Mexico,  was  a  man  to  make  as  good  con- 
ditions as  had  been  made  by  the  admiral  his  broth- 
er.^ It  was  said,  observed  Herrera,  that  the  king 
rather  preferred  to  employ  him  in  his  European  af- 
fairs, though  it  could  only  have  been  to  divert  him 
from  other  objects.  On  his  death  the  king  resumed 
to  himself  the  island  of  Mona  which  he  had  given  to 
him  for  life,  and  transferred  his  repartimiento  of  two 
hundred  Indians  to  the  vice-queen  Dona  Maria. 

While  the  admiral  Don  Diego  was  pressing  for  an 
audience  in  his  vindication  at  court.  King  Ferdinand 
died  on  the  23d  January,  1516.  His  grandson  and 
Fuccessor,  Prince  Charles,  afterwards  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  was  in  Flanders.  The  government  rested 
for  a  time  with  Cardinal  Ximenes,  who  would  not 
undertake  to  decide  on  the  representations  and 
claims  of  the  admiral.  It  was  not  until  1520  that 
he  obtained  from  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  a  recogni- 
tion of  his  innocence  of  all  the  charges  against  him. 
The  emperor  finding  that  what  Pasamonte  and  hia 
party  had  written  were  notorious  calumnies,  ordered 
Don  Diego  to  resume  his  charge,  although  the  process 
with  the  fiscal  was  still  pending,  and  that  Pasamonte 
should  be  written  to,  requesting  him  to  forget  all  past 
passions  and  differences  and  to  enter  into  amicable 
relations  with  Don  Diego.  Among  other  acts  of  in- 
demnification he  acknowledged  his  right  to  exercise 
his  office  of  viceroy  and  governor  in  the  island  of 
Jlispaniola,  and  in  all  parts  discovered  by  his  father.^ 
His  authorit}^  was,  however,  much  diminished  by  new 
regulations,  and  a  supervisor  appointed  over  him 
ivith  the  right  to  give  information  to  the  council 
against  him,  but  with  no  other  powers.    Don  Diego 

1  Charlevoix,  Hi«^t.  St.  Doming.,  lib.  v- 

2  Herrera,  decad  ii.  lib.  ix  cap.  7. 


APPENDfX, 


357 


ikd  in  the  beginning  of  September,  1520,  and  on 
his  arrival  at  St.  Domingo,  finding  that  several  of 
the  governors,  presuming  o^j  his  long  absence,  had  ar- 
rogated to  themselves  independence,  and  had  abused 
their  powers,  he  immediately  sent  persons  to  super- 
sede them,  and  demanded  an  account  of  their  admin- 
istration. This  made  him  a  host  of  active  and  pow- 
erful enemies  both  in  the  colonies  and  in  Spain. 

Considerable  changes  had  taken  place  in  the  isl 
and  of  Hispaniola,  during  the  absence  of  the  admiral. 
The  mines  had  fallen  into  neglect,  the  cultivation  of 
the  sugar-cane  having  been  found  a  more  certain 
source  of  wealth.  It  became  a  by-word  in  Spain 
that  the  magnificent  palaces  erected  by  Charles  Y.  at 
Madrid  and  Toledo  were  built  of  the  sugar  of  His- 
paniola. Slaves  had  been  imported  in  great  num- 
bers from  Africa,  being  found  more  serviceable  in  the 
culture  of  the  cane  than  the  feeble  Indians.  The 
treatment  of  the  poor  negroes  was  cruel  in  the  ex 
treme,  and  they  seem  to  have  had  no  advocates  even 
among  the  humane.  The  slavery  of  the  Indians  had 
been  founded  on  the  right  of  the  strong  ;  but  it  was 
thought  that  the  negroes,  from  their  color,  were  born 
to  slavery  ;  and  that  from  being  bought  and  sold  in 
their  own  country,  it  was  their  natural  condition. 
Though  a  patient  and  enduring  race,  the  barbarities 
inflicted  on  them  at  length  roused  them  to  revenge, 
and  on  the  27th  December,  1522,  there  was  the  first 
A^frican  revolt  in  Hispaniola.  It  began  in  a  sugar 
plantation  of  the  admiral  Don  Diego,  where  about 
twenty  slaves,  joined  by  an  equal  number  from  a 
leighboring  plantation,  got  possession  of  arms,  rose 
vn  their  superintendents,  massacred  them,  and  sallied 
forth  upon  the  country.  It  was  their  intention  to 
pillage  certain  plantations,  to  kill  the  whites,  rein- 
force themselves  by  freeing  their  countrymen,  and 


358 


APPENDIX. 


either  to  possess  themselves  of  the  town  of  Agua,  or 
to  escape  to  the  mountains. 

Don  Diego  set  out  fron;  St.  Domingo  in  search  of 
the  rebels,  followed  by  several  of  the  principal  inhab- 
itants. On  the  second  day  he  stopped  on  the  banka 
of  the  river  Nizao  to  rest  his  party  and  suffer  rein- 
forcements to  overtake  him.  Here  one  Melchor  de 
Castro,  who  accompanied  the  admiral,  learnt  that  the 
negroes  had  ravaged  his  plantation,  sacked  his  house, 
killed  one  of  his  men,  and  carried  off  his  Indian 
slaves.  Without  asking  leave  of  the  admiral,  he  de* 
parted  in  the  night  with  two  companions,  visited  his 
plantation,  found  all  in  confusion,  and  pursuing  the 
negroes,  sent  to  the  admiral  for  aid.  Eight  horse- 
men were  hastily  dispatched  to  his  assistance,  armed 
with  bucklers  and  lances,  and  having  six  of  the  in- 
fantry mounted  behind  them.  De  Castro  had  three 
horsemen  beside  this  reinforcement,  and  at  the  head 
of  this  little  band  overtook  the  negroes  at  break  of 
day.  The  insurgents  put  themselves  in  battle  array, 
armed  with  stones  and  Indian  spears,  and  uttering 
loud  shouts  and  outcries.  The  Spanish  horsemen 
braced  their  bucklers,  couched  their  lances,  and 
charged  them  at  full  speed.  The  negroes  were  soon 
routed,  and  fled  to  the  rocks,  leaving  six  dead  and 
several  wounded.  De  Castro  also  was  wounded  in 
the  arm.  The  admiral  coming  up,  assisted  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  As  fast  as  they  were  taken 
they  were  hanged  on  the  nearest  trees,  and  remained 
suspended  as  spectacles  of  terror  to  their  countrymen. 
This  prompt  severity  checked  all  further  attempts  at 
revolt  among  the  African  slaves.^ 

In  the  meantime  the  various  enemies  whom  Don 
Diego  had  created,  both  in  the  colonies  and  in  Spain, 
were  actively  and  successfully  employed.  His  old 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  iii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  9. 


APPENDIX. 


359 


ftntagonist,  the  treasurer  Pasamonte,  had  charged  him 
with  usurping  ahnost  all  the  powers  of  the  royal  au- 
dience, and  with  having  given  to  the  royal  declara- 
tion, reestablishing  him  in  his  office  of  viceroy,  an 
extent  never  intended  by  the  sovereign.  These  rep- 
resentations had  weight  at  court,  and  in  1523  Don 
Diego  received  a  most  severe  letter  from  the  councii 
of  the  Indies,  charging  him  with  the  various  abuses 
and  excesses  alleged  against  him,  and  commanding 
him,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  all  his  privileges  and  titles, 
to  revoke  tjie  innovations  he  had  made,  and  restore 
things  to  their  former  state.  To  prevent  any  plea 
of  ignorance  of  this  mandate,  the  royal  audience 
was  enjoined  to  promulgate  it  and  to  call  upon  all 
persons  to  conform  to  it,  and  to  see  that  it  was  prop- 
erly obeyed.  The  admiral  received  also  a  letter 
from  the  council,  informing  him  that  his  presence 
was  necessary  in  Spain,  to  give  information  of  the 
foregoing  matters,  and  advice  relative  to  the  reform- 
ation of  various  abcrses,  and  to  the  treatment  and 
preservation  of  the  Indians  ;  he  was  requested,  there- 
fore, to  repair  to  court  without  waiting  for  further 
orders.^ 

Don  Ditjgo  understood  this  to  be  a  peremptory 
recall,  and  obeyed  accordingly.  On  his  arrival  in 
Spain,  he  immediately  presented  himself  before  the 
court  at  Yiotoria,  with  the  frank  and  fearless  spirit 
of  an  upright  man,  and  pleaded  his  cause  so  well, 
that  the  sovereign  and  council  acknowledged  his  in- 
nocence on  all  the  points  of  accusation.  He  con- 
vinced them,  moreover,  of  the  exactitude  with  which 
he  had  discharged  his  duties ;  of  his  zeal  for  the 
public  good,  and  the  glory  of  the  crown ;  and  that 
all  the  representations  against  him  rose  from  the  jeal- 
)usy  and  enmity  of  Pasamonte  and  other  roy«i4  offi* 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  lad.  decad.  lib.  v.  cap.  4 


860 


APPENDIX, 


cers  In  the  colonies,  who  were  impatient  of  any  su« 
perior  aiitliorlty  in  the  island  to  restrain  them. 

Having  completely  established  his  innocence,  and 
exposed  the  calumnies  of  his  enemies,  Don  Diego 
trusted  that  he  would  soon  obtain  justice  as  to  all  hig 
claims.  As  these,  however,  involved  a  participation 
in  the  profits  of  vast  and  richly  productive  provinces, 
he  experienced  the  delays  and  difficulties  usual  with 
Buch  demands,  for  it  is  only  when  justice  costs  noth- 
ing that  it  is  readily  rendered.  His  earnest  solicita- 
tions at  length  obtained  an  order  from  the  emperor, 
that  a  commission  should  be  formed,  composed  of 
the  grand  chancellor,  the  friar  Loyasa,  confessor  to 
the  emperor,  and  president  of  the  royal  council  of 
the  Indies,  and  a  number  of  other  distinguished  per- 
sonages. They  were  to  inquire  into  the  various 
points  in  dispute  between  the  admiral  and  the  fiscal, 
and  into  the  proceedings  which  had  taken  place  in 
the  council  of  the  Indies,  with  the  power  of  deter- 
mining what  justice  required  in^he  case. 

The  affair,  however,  was  protracted  to  such  a 
length,  and  accompanied  by  so  many  toils,  vexations, 
and  disappointments,  that  the  unfortunate  Diego, 
like  his  father,  died  in  the  pursuit.  For  two  years 
he  had  followed  the  court  from  city  to  city,  during 
its  migrations  from  Victoria  to  Burgos,  Yalladolid, 
Madrid,  and  Toledo.  In  the  winter  of  1525,  the 
emperor  set  out  from  Toledo  for  Seville.  The  ad- 
miral undertook  to  follow  him,  though  his  constitu- 
tion was  broken  by  fatigue  and  vexation,  and  he 
was  wasting  under  the  attack  of  a  slow  fever.  Ovi- 
edo,  the  historian,  saw  him  at  Toledo  two  days  before 
his  departure,  and  joined  with  his  friends  in  endeav- 
oring to  dissuade  him  from  a  journey  in  such  a  state 
Df  health,  and  at  such  a  season.  Their  persuasions 
were  in  vain.    Don  Diego  was  not  aware  of  the  ex- 


APPENDIX. 


kenl  of  his  malady  ;  he  told  them  that  he  should  le- 
pair  to  Seville  by  the  church  of  our  Lady  of  Gaud- 
aloupe,  to  offer  up  his  devotions  at  that  shrine  ;  and 
he  trusted,  through  the  intercession  of  the  mother  of 
God,  soon  to  be  restored  to  health.^  He  accord- 
ingly left  Toledo  in  a  litter  on  the  21st  of  Februar}  , 
1526,  having  previously  confessed  and  taken  the 
communion,  and  arrived  the  same  day  at  Montalvan, 
distant  about  six  leagues.  There  his  illness  in- 
creased to  such  a  degree  that  he  saw  his  end  ap- 
proaching. He  employed  the  following  day  in  ar- 
ranging the  affairs  of  his  conscience,  and  expired  on 
February  23d,  being  little  more  than  fifty  years  of 
age,  his  premature  death  having  been  hastened  by 
the  griefs  and  troubles  he  had  experienced.  "  He 
was  worn  out,"  says  Herrera,  "  by  following  up  his 
claims,  and  defending  himself  from  the  calumnies  of 
his  competitors,  who,  with  many  stratagems  aiid  de- 
vices, sought  to  obscure  the  glory  of  the  father'  and 
the  virtue  of  the  son."  ^ 

We  have  seen  how  the  discovery  of  the  New 
World  rendered  the  residue  of  the  life  of  Columbus 
a  tissue  of  wrongs,  hardships  and  afflictions,  and  how 
the  jealousy  and  enmity  he  had  awakened  were  in- 
herited by  his  son.  It  remains  to  show  briefly  in 
what  degree  the  anticipations  of  perpetuity,  wealth 
and  honor  to  his  family  were  fulfilled. 

When  Don  Diego  Columbus  died,  his  wife  and 
family  were  at  St.  Domingo.  He  left  two  sons,  Luis 
and  Christopher,  and  three  daughters,  Maria,  who 
afterwards  married  Don  Sancho  de  Cardono  ;  Juana, 
who  married  Don  Luis  de  Cueva ;  and  Isabella,  who 

1  Charlevoix,  Hist.  St.  Doming.,  lib.  vi. 

2  Herrera,  decad.  iii.  lib.  viii.  cap.  15. 


362 


APPENDIX. 


married  Don  George  of  Portugal,  count  of  Gelves, 
He  had  also  a  natural  son  named  Christopher.^ 

After  the  death  of  Don  Diego,  his  noble  spirited 
vice-queen,  left  with  a  number  of  young  children, 
endeavored  to  assert  and  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
family.  Understanding  that,  according  to  the  priv- 
ileges accorded  to  Christopher  Columbus,  they  had  a 
just  claim  to  the  viceroyalty  of  the  province  of  Yer- 
agua,  as  having  been  discovered  by  him,  she  de- 
manded a  license  from  the  royal  audience  of  Hispan- 
iola,  to  recruit  men  and  fit  out  an  armada  to  colonize 
that  country.  This  the  audience  refused,  and  sent 
information  of  the  demand  to  the  emperor.  He  re- 
plied, that  the  vice-queen  should  be  kept  in  suspenses 
until  the  justice  of  her  claim  could  be  ascertained ; 
as,  although  he  had  at  various  times  given  commis- 
sions to  different  persons  to  examine  the  doubts  and 
objections  which  had  been  opposed  by  the  fiscal,  no 
decision  had  ever  been  made.^  The  enterprise  thus 
contemplated  by  the  vice-queen  was  never  carried 
into  elfeot. 

Shortly  afterwards  she  sailed  for  Spain,  to  protect 
the  claim  of  her  eldest  son,  Don  Luis,  then  six  years 
of  age.  Charles  Y.  was  absent,  but  she  was  most 
graciously  received  by  the  empress.  The  title  of 
admiral  of  the  Indies  was  immediately  conferred  on 

1  ^lemorial  ajustado  sobre  el  estado  de  Veragua. 
Charlevoix  mentions  another  son  called  Diego,  and  calla 

one  of  the  daughters  Phillipine.  Spotorno  says  that  the 
dau/J.hter  Maria  took  the  veil;  confounding  her  with  a  niece. 
These  are  trivial  errors,  merely  noticed  to  avoid  the  imputa- 
tion of  iriaccuracy.  The  account  of  the  descendants  of  Co- 
lumbus ?'^ere  given,  accords  with  a  genealogical  tree  of  the 
family,  p  oduced  before  the  council  of  the  Indies,  in  a  great 
.awsuit  f  "r  the  estates. 

2  Hen  ira,  decad.  iv.  hb.  ii.  cap.  6. 


APPENDIX. 


363 


her  son,  Don  Luis,  and  the  emperor  augmented  hia 
rev<}nues,  and  conferred  other  favors  on  the  family. 
Charles  V.  however,  could  never  be  prevailed  on  to 
give  Don  Luis  the  title  of  viceroy,  although  that  dig- 
nity had  been  decreed  to  his  father,  a  few  years  pre- 
vious to  his  death,  as  an  hereditary  right.^ 

In  1538,  the  young  admiral,  Don  Luis,  then  about 
eighteen  years  of  age,  was  at  court,  having  instituted 
proceedings  before  the  proper  tribunals,  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  viceroyalty.  Two  years  afterwards 
the  suit  was  settled  by  arbitration,  his  uncle  Don 
Fernando  and  Cardinal  Loyasa,  president  of  the 
council  of  the  Indies,  being  umpires.  By  a  com- 
promise Don  Luis  was  declared  captain-general  of 
Hispaniola,  but  with  such  limitations  that  it  was 
little  better  than  a  bare  title.  Don  Luis  sailed  for 
Hispaniola,  but  did  not  remain  there  long.  He 
found  his  dignities  and  privileges  mere  sources  of 
vexation,  and  finally  entered  into  a  compromise, 
which  relieved  himself  and  gratified  the  emperor. 
He  gave  up  all  pretensions  to  the  viceroyalty  of  the 
New  World,  receiving  in  its  stead  the  titles  of  Duke 
of  Yeragua  and  Marquis  of  Jamaica.^  He  com- 
muted also  the  claim  to  the  tenth  of  the  produce  of 
the  Indies  for  a  pension  of  one  thousand  doubloons 
of  gold.3 

Don  Luis  did  not  long  enjoy  the  substitution  of  a 
certain,  though  moderate,  revenue  for  a  magnificent 
but  unproductive  claim.  He  died  shortly  afterwards, 
leaving  no  other  male  issue  than  an  illegitimate  son, 
named  Christopher.  He  left  two  daughters  D}>  his 
tvife,  Dona  Maria  de  Mosquera,  one  named  Phillippa, 


1  Charlevoix,  Hist.  St.  Doming.,  lib.  vi.  p.  443. 

2  Cliarlevoix,  Hist.  St.  Doming.,  torn.  i.  lib.  vi.  p.  446 
«  Spotoruo,  Hist.  Colom.,  p.  123. 


864 


APPENDIX, 


and  the  other  Maria,  which  last  became  a  nan  in  the 
convent  of  St.  Qiiirce,  at  Yalladolid. 

Don  Luis  having  no  legitimate  son,  was  succeeded 
by  his  nephew  Diego,  son  to  his  brother  Christopher. 
A  litigation  took  place  between  this  young  heir  and 
his  coue^in  Phillippa,  daughter  of  the  late  Don  Luis. 
The  convent  of  St.  Quirce  also  put  in  a  claim,  on 
behalf  of  its  inmate,  Dona  Maria,  who  had  taken 
the  veil.  Christopher,  natural  son  to  Don  Luis, 
likewise  became  a  prosecutor  in  the  suit,  but  was  set 
aside  on  account  of  his  illegitimacy.  Don  Diego 
and  his  cousin  Phillippa  soon  thought  it  better  to 
join  claims  and  persons  in  wedlock,  than  to  pursue  a 
tedious  contest.  They  were  married,  and  their  union 
was  happy,  though  not  fruitful.  Diego  died  without 
issue,  in  1578,  and  with  him  the  legitimate  male  line 
of  Columbus  became  extinct. 

One  of  the  most  important  lawsuits  that  the  world 
has  ever  witnessed  now  arose  for  the  estates  and  dig- 
nities descended  from  the  great  discoverer.  Don 
Diego  had  two  sisters,  Francisca  and  Maria,  the  for- 
mer of  whom,  and  the  children  of  the  latter,  ad- 
vanced their  several  claims.  To  these  parties  was 
added  Bernard  Colombo  of  Cogoleto,  who  claimed  as 
lineal  descendant  from  Bartholomew  Columbus,  the 
Adelantado,  brotlier  to  the  discoverer.  He  was, 
however,  pronounced  ineligible,  as  the  Adelantado 
had  no  acknowledged,  and  certainly  no  legitimate 
offspring. 

Baldassar,  or  Balthazar  Colombo,  of  the  house  of 
Cuccaro  and  Conzano,  in  the  dukedom  of  Montfer- 
rat,  in  Piedmont,  was  an  active  and  persevering 
claimant.  He  came  from  Italy  into  Spain,  where  he 
devoted  himself  for  many  years  to  the  prosecution 
jf  this  suit.  He  produced  a  genealogical  tree  of  hig 
family,  in  which  was  contained  one  Domenico  Co- 


APPENDIX. 


365 


lombo,  lord  of  Cuccaro,  whom  lie  maintained  to  be 
the  identical  father  of  Christopher  Columbus,  the  ad- 
miral. He  proved  that  this  Domenico  was  living  at 
the  requisite  era,  and  produced  many  witnesses  who 
had  heard  that  the  navigator  was  born  in  the  castle 
of  Cuccaro ;  whence,  it  was  added,  he  and  his  two 
brothers  had  eloped  at  an  early  age,  and  had  never 
returned.^  A  monk  is  also  mentioned  among  the 
witnesses,  who  made  oath  that  Christopher  and  hia 
brothers  were  born  in  that  castle  of  Cuccaro.  This 
testimony  was  afterwards  withdrawn  by  the  prosecu- 
tor ;  as  it  was  found  that  the  monk's  recollection 
must  have  extended  back  considerably  upward  of  a 
century.^  The  claim  of  Balthazar  was  negatived. 
His  proofs  that  Christopher  Columbus  was  a  native 
of  Cuccaro  were  rejected,  as  only  hearsay,  or  tradi- 
tionary evidence.  His  ancestor  Domenico,  it  ap- 
peared from  his  own  showing,  died  in  1456  ;  whereas 
it  was  established  that  Domenico,  the  father  of  the 
admiral,  was  living  upwards  of  thirty  years  after  that 
date. 

The  cause  was  finally  decided  by  the  council  of 
the  Indies,  on  the  2d  December,  1608.  The  male 
line  was  declared  to  be  extinct.  Don  Nuno  or 
Nugno  Gelves  de  Portugallo  was  put  in  possession, 
and  became  Duke  of  Veragua.  He  was  grandson  to 
Isabella,  third  daughter  of  Don  Diego  (son  of  the 
discoverer)  by  his  vice-queen.  Dona  Maria  de  Toledo. 
I'he  descendants  of  the  two  elder  sisters  of  Isabella 
bad  a  prior  claim,  but  their  lines  became  extinct  pre- 
vious to  this  decision  of  the  suit.  The  Isabella  just 
named,  had  married  Don  George  of  Portugal,  count 
of  Gelves.  "  Thus,"  says  Charlevoix,  "  the  dignities 
and  wealth  of  Columbus  passed  into  a  branch  of  the 

1  Bossi  Hist.  Colomb.  Dissert,  p.  67. 

2  Idem,  Dissert,  on  the  country  of  Columbus,  p.  63 


366 


APPENDIX. 


Portuguese  house  of  Braganza,  established  in  Spain, 
of  which  the  heirs  are  entitled  De  Portugallo,  Colon, 
Duke  de  Veragua^  Marques  de  la  Jamaica,  y  Almir- 
ante  de  las  Indias"  ^ 

The  suit  of  Balthazar  Colombo  of  Cuecaro  was 
rejected  under  three  different  forms,  by  the  council 
of  the  Indies ;  and  his  application  for  an  allowance 
of  support,  under  the  legacy  of  Columbus,  in  favor 
of  poor  relations,  was  also  refused ;  although  the 
other  parties  had  assented  to  the  demand.^  He  died 
in  Spain,  where  he  had  resided  many  years  in  pros- 
ecution of  this  suit.  His  son  returned  to  Italy  per- 
sisting in  the  validity  of  his  claim  :  he  said  that  it 
was  in  vain  to  seek  justice  in  Spain  ;  they  were  too 
much  interested  to  keep  those  dignities  and  estates 
among  themselves  ;  but  he  gave  out  that  he  had  re- 
ceived twelve  thousand  doubloons  of  gold  in  com- 
promise from  the  other  parties.  Spotorno,  under  sanc- 
tion of  Ignazio  de  Giovanni,  a  learned  canon,  treats 
this  assertion  as  a  bravado,  to  cover  his  defeat,  being 
contradicted  by  his  evident  poverty.  The  family  of 
Cuecaro,  however,  still  maintain  their  right,  and  ex- 
press great  veneration  for  the  memory  of  their  illus- 
trious ancestor,  the  admiral ;  and  travellers  occasion- 
ally visit  their  old  castle  in  Piedmont  with  great 
reverence,  as  the  birthplace  of  the  discoverer  of  the 
New  World. 

1  Charlevoix,  Hist.  St.  Domingo.,  torn.  i.  lib.  vi.  p.  447. 

2  Bossi,  Dissertation  on  the  couitry  of  Columbiifi. 
.   •  Spotorno,  p.  127. 


APPENDIX. 


867 


No.  III. 

FERNANDO  COLUMBUS. 

Fernando  Columbus  (or  Colon,  as  he  is  called 
in  Spain),  the  natural  son  and  historian  of  the  ad- 
miral, was  born  in  Cordova.  There  is  an  uncer- 
tainty about  the  exact  time  of  his  birth.  Accord- 
ing to  his  epitaph,  it  must  have  been  on  the  28th 
September,  1488 ;  but  according  to  his  original 
papers  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  cathedral  of 
Seville,  and  which  were  examined  by  Don  Diego 
Ortiz  de  Zuniga,  historian  of  that  city,  it  would  ap- 
pear to  have  been  on  the  29th  of  August,  1487.  His 
mother.  Dona  Beatrix  Enriquez,  was  of  a  respectable 
family,  but  was  never  married  to  the  admiral,  as  has 
been  stated  by  some  of  his  biographers. 

Early  in  1494,  Fernando  was  carried  to  court,  to- 
gether with  his  elder  brother  Diego,  by  his  uncle 
Don  Bartholomew,  to  enter  the  royal  household  in 
quality  of  page  to  the  prince  Don  Juan,  son  and 
heir  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  He  and  his  brother 
remained  in  this  situation  until  the  death  of  the 
prince  ;  when  they  were  taken  by  Queen  Isabella  as 
pages  into  her  own  service.  Their  education,  of 
course,  was  well  attended  to,  and  Fernando  in  after- 
life  gave  proofs  of  being  a  learned  man. 

In  the  year  1502,  at  the  tender  age  of  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years,  Fernando  accompanied  his  father  in 
his  fourth  voyage  of  discovery,  and  encountered  all 
its  singular  and  varied  hardships  with  a  fortitude 
that  is  mentioned  with  praise  and  admiration  by  the 
admiral. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  it  would  appear  that 
Fernando  made  two  voyages  to  the  New  World. 


368 


APPENDIX. 


He  accompanied  the  Emperor  Charles  Y.  also,  M 
Italy,  Flanders,  and  Germany ;  and  according  to 
Zuuiga  (Anales  de  Seville  de  1539,  No.  3)  travelled 
over  all  Europe  and  a  part  of  Africa  and  Asia. 
Possessing  talents,  judgment,  and  industry,  these  op- 
portunities were  not  lost  upon  him,  and  he  acquired 
much  information  in  geography,  navigation,  and  nat- 
ural history.  Being  of  a  studious  habit,  and  fond 
of  books,  he  formed  a  select,  yet  copious  library,  of 
more  than  twenty  thousand  vobimes,  in  print  and 
in  manuscript.  With  the  sanction  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  he  undertook  to  establish  an  academy 
and  college  of  mathematics  at  Seville ;  and  for  this 
purpose  commenced  the  construction  of  a  sumptuous 
edifice,  without  the  walls  of  the  city,  facing  the 
Guadalquiver,  in  the  place  where  the  monastery  of 
San  Laureano  is  now  situated.  His  constitution, 
however,  had  been  broken  by  the  sufferings  he  had 
experienced  in  his  travels  and  voyages,  and  a  prema^ 
ture  death  prevented  the  completion  of  his  plan  of 
the  academy,  and  broke  off  other  useful  labors.  He 
died  in  Seville  on  the  12th  of  July,  1539,  at  the  age, 
according  to  his  epitaph,  of  fifty  years,  nine  months, 
and  fourteen  days.  He  left  no  issue,  and  was  never 
married.  His  body  was  interred  according  to  his  re- 
quest, in  the  cathedral  pf  Seville.  He  bequeathed 
his  valuable  library  to  the  Fame  establishment. 

Don  Fernando  devoted  himself  much  to  letters. 
According  to  the  inscription  on  his  tomb,  he  com* 
posed  a  work  in  four  books,  or  volumes,  the  title  of 
which  is  defaced  on  the  monument,  and  the  work 
itself  is  lost.  This  is  much  to  be  regretted,  as,  ac- 
cording to  Zuniga,  the  fragments  of  the  inscription 
Bpecify  it  to  have  contained,  among  a  variety  of 
matter,  historical,  moral,  and  geographical  notices  of 
the  countries  he  had  visited,  but  especially  of  the 


APPENDIX. 


369 


New  World,  and  of  the  voyages  and  discoveries  of 
his  father. 

His  most  important  and  permanent  work,  how- 
ever, was  a  history  of  the  admiral,  composed  in 
Spanish.  It  was  translated  into  Italian  by  Alonzo 
de  Ulloa,  and  from  this  Italian  translation  have  pro- 
ceeded the  editions  which  have  since  appeared  in 
various  languages.  It  is  singular  that  the  work  only 
exists  in  Spanish,  in  the  form  of  a  retranslation  from 
that  of  Ulloa,  and  full  of  errors  in  the  orthography 
^f  proper  names,  and  in  dates  and  distances. 


Galky,  from  the  toub  of  Fernando  Columbus,  at  Seville 


Don  Fernando  was  an  eye-witness  of  some  of  tho 
facts  which  he  relates,  particularly  of  the  fourth  voy- 
age wherein  he  accompanied  his  father.  He  had 
also  the  papers  and  charts  of  his  father,  and  recent 
documents  of  all  kinds  to  extract  from,  as  well  as 
familiar  acquaintance  with  the  principal  personages 
who  were  concerned  in  the  events  which  he  records. 
He  was  a  man  of  probity  and  discernment,  and 
writes  more  dispassionately  than  could  be  expected, 
when  treating  of  matters  which  alFected  the  honor, 
the  interests,  and  happiness  <^  his  father.    It  is  to 

VOI.  III.  24 


B70 


APPENDIX. 


be  regretted,  however,  that  he  should  have  suffered 
the  whole  of  his  father's  life,  previous  to  his  discov- 
eries (a  period  of  about  fifty-six  years),  to  remain  in 
obscurity.  He  appears  to  have  wished  to  cast  a 
cloud  over  it,  and  only  to  have  presented  his  father 
to  the  reader  after  he  had  rendered  himself  illustri- 
ous by  his  actions,  and  his  history  had  become  in  a 
manner  identified  with  the  history  of  the  world.  His 
work,  however,  is  an  invaluable  document,  entitled 
to  great  faith,  and  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  history 
of  the  American  continent. 


No.  IV. 

AGE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

As  the  date  I  have  assigned  for  the  birth  of  Co- 
lumbus, makes  him  about  ten  years  older  than  he  is 
generally  represented,  at  the  time  of  his  discoveries, 
it  is  proper  to  state  precisely  my  authority.  In  the 
valuable  manuscript  chronicle  of  the  reign  of  the 
Catholic  sovereigns,  written  by  Andres  Bernaldes, 
the  curate  of  Los  Palacios,  there  is  a  long  tract  on 
the  subject  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus :  it  con- 
cludes with  these  words  :  Murie  en  ValladoHd,  el  afio 
de  1506,  en  el  mes  de  Mayo,  in  senectute  bona,  de  edad 
70  arios,  poco  mas  6  menos,  (He  died  in  YalladoHd 
in  the  }  ear  1506,  in  the  month  of  May,  in  a  good 
old  age,  being  seventy  years  old,  a  little  mere  or 
less.)  The  curate  of  Los  Palacios  was  a  contempo 
rary,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Columbus,  who  was 
•occasionally  a  guest  in  his  house  ;  no  one  was  more 
competent,  therefore,  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  hia 
age.    It  is  singular,  that,  while  the  biographers  oi 


APPENDIX. 


371 


Columbus  liave  been  seeking  to  establish  tlie  epoch 
of  his  birth  by  various  calculations  and  conjectures, 
this  direct  testimony  of  honest  Andres  Bernaldes  has 
entirely  escaped  their  notice,  though  some  of  them 
had  his  manuscript  in  their  hands.  It  was  first  ob- 
served by  my  accurate  friend  Don  Antonio  Uguina 
in  the  course  of  his  exact  investigations,  and  has 
been  pointed  out  and  ably  supported  by  Don  Martin 
Fernandez  de  Navarrete,  in  the  introduction  to  his 
valuable  collection  of  voyages. 

Various  circumstances  in  the  life  of  Columbus  will 
be  found  to  corroborate  the  statement  of  the  curate ; 
Buch,  for  example,  as  the  increasing  infirmities  with 
which  he  struggled  during  his  voyages,  and  which  at 
last  rendered  him  a  cripple  and  confined  him  to  his 
bed.  The  allusion  to  his  advanced  age  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  the  sovereigns,  wherein  he  relates  the  con 
solation  he  had  received  from  a  secret  voice  in  the 
night  season :  Tu  vejez  no  impedira  a  toda  cosa 
grande.  Abraham  pasaba  cien  anos  cuando  engendro 
a  Isaac,  (  Thy  old  age  shall  be  no  impediment 

to  any  great  undertaking.  Abraham  was  above  a 
hundred  years  old  when  he  begat  Isaac,  &c.)  The 
permission  granted  him  by  the  king  the  year  previous 
to  his  death  to  travel  on  a  mule,  instead  of  a  horse, 
on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities ;  and  the  asser- 
tion of  Oviedo,  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
quite  old  (em  ya  viejd). 

This  fact  of  the  advanced  age  of  Columbus  throws 
quite  a  new  coloring  over  his  character  and  history. 
How  much  more  extraordinary  is  the  ardent  enthu- 
siasm which  sustained  him  through  his  long  career  of 
Bolicitation,  and  the  noble  pride  with  which  he  refused 
to  descend  from  his  dignified  demands,  and  to  bar- 
gain about  his  proposition,  though  life  was  rapidly 
wasting  in  delays.    How  much  more  extraordinary 


872 


APPENDIX. 


is  the  hardihood  with  which  he  undertook  repeated 
voyages  into  unknown  seas,  amidst  all  kinds  of  perila 
and  hardships  ;  the  fortitude  with  which  he  bore  up 
ftgainst  an  accumulation  of  mental  and  bodily  afflic- 
tions, enough  to  have  disheartened  and  destroyed  the 
most  youthful  and  robust,  and  the  irrepressible  buoy- 
ancy of  spirit  with  which,  to  the  last,  he  still  rose 
from  under  the  ruined  concern'^  and  disappointed 
hopes  and  blasted  projects  of  one  enterprise,  to 
launch  into  another,  still  more  difficult  and  perilous. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  admire  all  these 
things  in  Columbus  when  we  considered  him  in  the 
full  vigor  of  his  life  ;  how  much  more  are  they  enti- 
tled to  our  wonder  as  the  achievements  of  a  man, 
whom  the  weight  of  years  and  infirmities  was  press- 
ing into  the  grave. 


No.  Y- 

LINEAGE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

The  ancestry  of  Christopher  Columbus  has  formed 
a  point  of  zealous  controversy  which  is  not  yet  satis- 
factorily settled.  Several  honorable  families,  possess- 
ing domains  in  Placentia,  Montferrat,  and  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  Genoese  territories,  claim  him  as 
belonging  to  their  houses  ;  and  to  these  has  recently 
been  added  the  noble  family  of  Colombo  in  Modena.^ 
The  natural  desire  to  prove  consanguinity  with  a  man 
of  distinguished  renown  has  excited  this  rivalry;  but 
it  has  been  heightened,  in  particular  instances,  by  the 
\»opc  of  succeeding  to  titles  and  situations  of  wealth 
1  Spotoruo,  Hist.  Mem.,  p.  5. 


APPENDIX, 


373 


and  honor,  when  his  male  line  of  descendants  became 
extinct.  The  investigation  is  involved  in  particular 
obscurity,  as  even  his  immediate  relatives  appear  to 
have  been  in  ignorance  on  the  subject. 

Fernando  Columbus  in  his  biography  of  the  admi- 
ral, after  a  pompous  prelude,  in  which  he  attempts  to 
throw  a  vague  and  cloudy  magnificence  about  the 
origin  of  his  father,  notices  slightly  the  attempts  of 
some  to  obscure  his  fame,  by  making  him  a  native  of 
various  small  and  insignificant  villages ;  and  dwells 
with  more  complacency  upon  others  who  make  him  a 
native  of  places  in  which  there  were  persons  of  much 
honor  of  the  name,  and  many  sepulchral  monuments 
with  arms  and  epitaphs  of  the  Colombos.  He  relates 
his  having  himself  gone  to  the  castle  of  Cucureo,  to 
visit  two  brothers  of  the  family  of  Colombo,  who 
were  rich  and  noble,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  above 
one  hundred  years  of  age,  and  who  he  had  heard 
were  relatives  of  his  father  ;  but  they  could  give  him 
no  information  upon  the  subject ;  whereupon  he 
breaks  forth  into  his  professed  contempt  for  these  ad- 
ventitious claims,  declaring,  that  he  thinks  it  better 
to  content  himself  with  dating  from  the  glory  of  the 
admiral,  than  to  go  about  inquiring  whether  his 
father  "  were  a  merchant,  or  one  who  kept  his 
hawks  since,  adds  he,  of  persons  of  similar  pursuits, 
there  are  thousands  who  die  every  day,  whose  mem- 
ory, even  among  their  own  neighbors  and  relatives, 
perishes  immediately,  without  its  being  possible  after- 
wards to  ascertain  even  whether  they  existed. 

After  this,  and  a  few  more  expressions  of  similar 
disdain  for  these  empty  distinctions,  he  indulges  in 

1  Liternllv,  in  the  original,  Cazador  de  Volatei'iaf  a  Fal- 
coner. Hawking  was  in  those  days  an  amusement  of  the 
highest  classes;  and  to  keep  hawks  was  ahnost  a  sign  ot  »o- 
!)iiity 


874 


APPENDIX. 


vehement  abuse  of  Agostino  Giustlnlani,  whom  be 
calls  a  false  historian,  an  inconsiderate,  partial,  or  ma- 
lignant compatriot,  for  having,  in  his  psalter,  traduced 
his  father,  by  saying,  that  in  his  youth  he  had  been 
employed  in  mechanical  occupations. 

As,  after  all  this  discussion,  Fernando  leaves  the 
question  of  his  father's  parentage  in  all  its  original 
obscurity,  yet  appears  irritably  sensitive  to  any  de- 
rogatory suggestions  of  others,  his  whole  evidence 
tends  to  the  conviction  that  he  really  knew  nothing 
to  boast  of  in  his  ancestry. 

Of  the  nobility  and  antiquity  of  the  Colombo  fam- 
il}',  of  which  the  admiral  probably  was  a  remote  de- 
Bcendant,  we  have  some  account  in  Herrera.  We 
learn,"  he  says,  "  that  the  Emperor  Otto  the  Second, 
in  940,  confirmed  to  the  counts  Pietro,  Giovanni,  and 
Alexandro  Colombo,  brothers,  the  feudatory  possess- 
ions which  they  held  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
cities  of  Ayqui,  Savona,  Aste,  Montferrato,  Turin, 
Viceli,  Parma,  Cremona,  and  Bergamo,  and  all  others 
which  they  held  in  Italy.  It  appears  that  the  Colora- 
bos  of  Caccaro,  Cucureo,  and  Placentia,  were  the 
same,  and  that  the  emperor  in  the-  same  year,  940, 
made  donation  to  the  said  three  brothers  of  the  cas- 
thjs  of  Cuccaro,  Conzano,  Rosignano,  and  others,  and 
of  the  fourth  part  of  Bistanio,  which  appertained  to 
the  empire.^ 

One  of  the  boldest  attempts  of  those  biographers 
bent  on  ennobling  Columbus,  has  been  to  make  him 
Bon  of  the  Lord  of  Cuccaro,  a  burgh  of  Montferrat, 
in  Piedmont,  and  to  prove  that  he  was  born  in  his 
father's  castle  at  that  place ;  whence  he  and  his 
brothers  eloped  at  an  early  age,  and  never  returned. 
This  was  asserted  in  the  course  of  a  process  brought 
by  a  certain  Baldasser  or  Balthazar  Colombo,  resi 
1  Herrera  decad.  i.  lib.  1.  cap.  7. 


APPENDIX. 


dent  In  Genoa,  but  originally  of  Cuccaro.  claiming  the 
title  ar.d  estates,  on  the  death  of  Diego  Colon,  Duke 
of  Yeragua,  in  1578,  the  great-grandson,  and  last  le- 
gitimate male  descendant  of  the  admiral.  The  coun- 
cil of  the  Indies  decided  against  this  claim  to  rela- 
tionship. Some  account  of  the  lawsuit  will  be  found 
in  another  part  of  the  work. 

This  romantic  story,  like  all  others  of  the  nobility 
of  his  parentage,  is  at  utter  variance  with  the  subse- 
quent events  of  his  life,  his  long  struggles  with  indi- 
gence and  obscurity,  and  the  difficulties  he  endured 
from  the  want  of  family  connections.  Ho  n  can  it  be 
believed,  says  Bossi,  that  this  same  man,  who,  in  his 
most  cruel  adversities,  was  incessantly  taunted  by  his 
enemies  with  the  obscurity  of  his  birth,  should  not 
reply  to  this  reproach,  by  declaring  his  origin,  if  he 
were  really  descended  from  the  Lords  of  Cuccaro, 
Conzano,  and  Roslgnano  ?  a  circumstance  which 
would  have  obtained  him  the  highest  credit  with  the 
Spanish  nobility.-'- 

The  difiereuT)  families  of  Colombo  which  lay  claim 
to  the  great  navigator,  seem  to  be  various  branches 
of  one  tree,  and  there  is  little  doubt  of  his  appertain- 
ing remotely  to  the  same  respectable  stock. 

It  appears  evident,  however,  that  Columbus  sprang 
immediately  from  a  line  of  humble  but  industrious 
citizens,  which  had  existed  in  Genoa,  even  from  the 
time  of  Giacomo  Colombo  the  wool-carder,  in  1311, 
mentioned  by  Spotorno  ;  nor  is  this  in  any  wise  in- 
compatible with  the  intimation  of  Fernando  Colum- 
bus, that  the  family  had  been  reduced  from  high 
estate  to  great  poverty,  by  the  wars  of  Lombardy. 
The  feuds  of  Italy,  in  those  ages,  had  broken  down 
lUid  scattered  many  of  the  noblest  families ;  and 
while  some  branches  remained  in  the  lordly  heritage 
1  Dissertation,  &c. 


376 


APPENDIX. 


of  castles  and  domains,  others  were  confounded  with 
the  humblest  population  of  the  cities. 


No.  VL 

BIRTHPLACE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

There  has  been  much  controversy  about  the  birth 
place  of  Columbus.  The  greatness  of  his  renown 
has  induced  various  places  to  lay  claim  to  him  as  a 
native,  and  from  motives  of  laudable  pride,  for  noth- 
ing reflects  greater  lustre  upon  a  city  than  to  have 
given  birth  to  distinguished  men.  The  original  and 
long  established  opinion  was  in  favor  of  Genoa  ;  but 
such  strenuous  claims  were  asserted  by  the  states  of 
Placentia,  and  in  particular  of  Piedmont,  that  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  and  Letters  of  Genoa  was  in- 
duced, in  1812,  to  nominate  three  of  its  members, 
Signors  Serra,  Carrega,  and  Piaggio,  commissioners 
to  examine  into  these  pretensions. 

The  claims  of  Placentia  had  been  first  advanced 
in  1662,  by  Pietro  Maria  Campi,  in  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  that  place,  who  maintained  that  Columbus 
was  a  natire  of  the  village  of  Pradello,  in  that 
vicinity.  It  appeared  probable,  on  investigation, 
that  Bertolino  Colombo,  great  grandfather  to  the  ad- 
miral, had  owned  a  small  property  in  Pradello,  the 
rent  of  which  had  been  received  by  Domenico  Co- 
lombo of  Genoa,  and  after  his  death  by  his  sons 
Christopher  and  Bartholomew.  Admitting  this  as- 
sertion to  be  correct,  there  was  no  proof  that  either 
the  admiral,  his  father,  or  grandfather  had  ever 
resided  on  that  estate.    The  very  circumstances 


APPENDIX. 


the  case  indicated,  on  the  contrary,  that  their  homo 
was  in  Genoa. 

The  claim  of  Piedmont  was  maintained  with  more 
plausibility.  It  was  shown  that  a  Domenico  Colombo 
was  lord  of  the  castle  of  Cuccaro  in  Montferrat,  at 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christopher  Columbus,  who^ 
it  was  asserted,  was  his  son,  and  born  in  his  castle, 
Balthazar  Colombo,  a  descendant  of  this  person, 
instituted  a  lawsuit  before  the  council  of  the  Indies 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  admiral,  when  his  male 
line  became  extinct.  The  council  of  the  Indies 
decided  against  him,  as  is  shown  in  an  account  of 
that  process  given  among  the  illustrations  of  this 
history.  It  was  proved  that  Domenico  Colombo, 
father  of  the  admiral,  was  resident  in  Genoa  both 
before  and  many  years  after  the  death  of  this  lord 
of  Cuccaro,  who  bore  the  same  name. 

The  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  and  Letters  of  Genoa  to  examine 
into  these  pretensions,  after  a  long  and  diligent  in- 
vestigation, gave  a  voluminous  and  circumstantial 
report  in  favor  of  Genoa.  An  ample  digest  of  their 
inquest  may  be  found  in  the  History  of  Columbus  by 
Signor  Bossi,  who,  in  an  able  dissertation  on  the 
question,  confirms  their  opinion.  It  may  be  added, 
m  farther  corroboration,  that  Peter  Martyr  and  Bar- 
tholomew Las  Casas,  who  were  contemporaries  and 
acquaintances  of  Columbus,  and  Juan  de  Barros,  the 
Portuguese  historian,  all  make  Columbus  a  native  of 
the  Genoese  territories. 

There  has  been  a  question  fruitful  of  discussion 
among  the  Genoese  themselves,  whether  Columbus 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Genoa,  or  in  some  other  part 
of  the  territory.  Finale,  and  Oneglia,  and  Savona, 
towns  on  the  Ligurian  coast  to  the  west,  Boggiasco, 
Gogoleto,  and  several  other  towns  and  villages,  claim 


378 


APPENDIX, 


Iiiiii  as  their  own.  His  family  possessed  a  small 
proper!/  at  a  village  or  hamlet  between  Quinto  and 
Nervi,  called  'J'erra  Kossa  ;  in  Latin,  Terra  Rubra  ; 
which  has  induced  some  writers  to  assign  his  birth 
to  one  of  those  places.  Bossi  says  that  there  is  still 
a  tower  between  Quinto  and  Nervi  which  bears  the 
title  of  Torre  dei  Colombi.^  Bartholomew  Colum- 
bus, brother  to  the  admiral,  styled  himself  of  Terra 
Rubra,  in  a  Latin  inscription  on  a  map  which  he 
presented  to  Henry  VJI.  of  England,  and  Fernando 
Columbus  states,  in  his  history  of  the  admiral,  that 
he  was  accustomed  to  subscribe  himself  in  the  same 
manner  before  he  attained  to  his  dignities. 

Cogoleto  at  one  time  bore  away  the  palm.  The 
families  there  claim  the  discoverer  and  preserve  a 
portrait  of  him.  One  or  both  of  the  two  admirals 
named  Colombo,  with  whom  he  sailed,  are  stated  to 
have  come  from  that  place,  and  to  have  been  con- 
founded with  him  so  as  to  have  given  support  to  this 
idea.^ 

Savona,  a  city  in  the  Genoese  territories,  has 
claimed  the  same  honor,  and  this  claim  has  recently 
been  very  strongly  brought  forward.  Signor  Gio- 
vanni Battista  Belloro,  an  advocate  of  Savona,  has 
strenuously  maintained  this  claim  in  an  ingenious 
disputation,  dated  May  12th,  1826,  in  form  of  a  let- 
ter to  the  Baron  du  Zach,  editor  of  a  valuable 
astronomical  and  geographical  journal,  published 
monthly  at  Genoa.^ 

Signor  Belloro  claims  it  as  an  admitted  fact,  that 
Domenico  Colombo  was  for  many  years  a  resident 
and  citizen  of  Savona,  in  which  place  one  Christen 

1  Bossi.    French  Translation,  Paris,  1824,  p.  69. 

2  Idem. 

3  Correspondence  Astronom.  Geograph.  &c.  de  Baron  du 
Zach,  vol.  U,  cahier  6,  lettera  29.  1826. 


APPENDIX. 


379 


plier  Columbus  is  shown  to  have  signed  a  document 
in  1472. 

He  states  that  a  public  square  in  that  city  bore 
the  name  of  Platea  Columbi,  toward  the  end  of  tha 
14th  century ;  that  the  Ligurian  government  gave 
the  name  of  Jurisdizione  di  Colombi  to  that  district 
of  the  republic,  under  the  persuasion  that  the  great 
navigator  was  a  native  of  Savona  ;  and  that  Colum- 
bus gave  the  name  of  Saona  to  a  little  island  ad- 
jacent to  Hispaniola,  among  his  earliest  discoveries. 

He  quotes  many  Savonese  writers,  principally 
poets,  and  various  historians  and  poets  of  other 
cauntries,  and  thus  establishes  the  point  that  Colum- 
bus was  held  to  be  a  native  of  Savona  by  persons 
of  respectable  authority.  He  lays  particular  stress 
on  the  testimony  of  the  Magnifico  Francisco  Spinola, 
as  related  by  the  learned  prelate  Felippo  Alberto 
Pollero,  stating  that  he  had  seen  the  sepulchre  of 
Christopher  Columbus  in  the  cathedral  at  Seville, 
and  that  the  epitaph  states  him  expressly  to  be  a 
native  of  Savona ;  Hie  jacet  Christophorus  Colum- 
bus Savonensis."  ^ 

The  proofs  advanced  by  Signor  Belloro  show  his 
zeal  for  the  honor  of  his  native  city,  but  do  not 
authenticate  the  fact  he  undertakes  to  establish. 
He  shows  clearly  that  many  respectable  writers  be- 
lieved Columbus  to  be  a  native  of  Savona ;  but  a  far 
greater  number  can  be  adduced,  and  many  of  them 
contemporary  with  the  admiral,  some  of  them  his 
intimate  friends,  others  his  fellow-citizens,  who  state 
him  to  have  been  born  in  the  city  of  Genoa. 
Among  the  Savonese  writers,  Giulio  Salinorio,  who 
investigated  the  subject,  comes  expressly  to  the  same 

■  Felippo  Alberto  Pollero,  Epicherema,  cio^  breve  discorso 
iier  difesa  di  sua  persona  e  carrattere.  Torino,  per  Gio  Bat* 
»as/a  Zappata.   MODXCVl.  (read  1696)  in  4o.  pag.  47. 


880 


APPENDIX. 


conclusion  :  "  Genova,  cittd  nohilissima^  era  la  pairia 
de  ColomhoJ* 

Signor  Belloro  appears  to  be  correct  in  stating 
that  Domenico,  the  father  of  the  admiral,  was  several 
years  resident  in  Savona.  But  it  appears  from  his 
own  dissertation,  that  the  Christopher  who  witnessed 
the  testament  in  1472,  styled  himself  of  Genoa: 
^'  Christophorus  Columbus  lanerius  de  JanuaJ*  This 
incident  is  stated  by  other  writers,  who  presume  this 
Christopher  to  have  been  the  navigator  on  a  visit  to 
his  father,  in  the  interval  of  his  early  voyages.  In 
as  far  as  the  circumstance  bears  on  the  point,  it  sup- 
ports the  idea  that  he  was  born  at  Genoa. 

The  epitaph  on  which  Signor  Belloro  places  his 
principal  reliance,  entirely  fails.  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus was  not  interred  in  the  cathedral  of  Seville, 
nor  was  any  monument  erected  to  him  in  that  edi- 
fice. The  tomb  to  which  the  learned  prelate  Felippo 
Alberto  Pollero  alludes,  may  have  been  that  of  Fer- 
nando Columbus,  son  to  the  admiral,  who,  as  has 
been  already  observed,  was  buried  in  the  cathedral 
of  Seville,  to  which  he  bequeathed  his  noble  library. 
The  place  of  his  sepulture  is  designated  by  a  broad 
slab  of  white  marble,  inserted  in  the  pavement,  tvith 
an  inscription,  partly  in  Spanish,  partly  in  Latin, 
recording  the  merits  of  Fernando,  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  his  fither.  On  either  side  of  the  epitaph 
is  engraved  an  ancient  Spanish  Galley.  The  in- 
scription quoted  by  Signor  Belloro  may  have  been 
erroneously  written  from  memory  by  the  Magnifico 
Francisco  Spinola,  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  he 
had  beheld  the  sepulchre  of  the  great  discoverer. 
As  Fernando  was  born  at  Cordova,  the  term  Savon- 
ensis  must  have  been  another  error  of  memory  in 
the  Magnifico ;  no  such  word  is  to  be  found  ir  the 
inscription. 


APPENDIX. 


381 


This  question  of  birthplace  has  also  been  investi- 
gated with  considerable  minuteness,  and  a  decision 
given  in  favor  of  Genoa,  by  D.  Gio  Battista  Spo- 
torno,  of  the  royal  university  in  that  city,  in  his  his- 
torical memoir  of  Columbus.  He  shows  that  the 
family  of  the  Colombi  had  long  been  resident  in 
Genoa.  By  an  extract  from  the  notarial  register,  it 
appeared  that  one  Giacomo  Colombo,  a  wool-carder, 
resided  without  the  gate  of  St.  Andria,  in  the  year 
1311.  An  agreement,  also,  published  by  the  acad- 
emy of  Genoa,  proved,  that  in  1489,  Domenico  Co- 
lombo possessed  a  house  and  shop,  and  a  garden 
with  a  well,  in  the  street  of  St.  Andrew's  gate, 
anciently  without  the  walls,  presumed  to  have  been 
the  same  residence  with  that  of  Giacomo  Colombo. 
He  rented  also  another  house  from  the  monks  of  St. 
Stephen,  in  the  Via  Mulcento,  leading  from  the 
street  of  St.  Andrew  to  the  Strada  Giulia.-^ 

Signor  Bossi  states,  that  documents  lately  found 
in  the  archives  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Stephen, 
present  the  name  of  Domenico  Colombo  several 
times,  from  1456  to  1459,  and  designate  him  as  son 
of  Giovanni  Colombo,  husband  of  Susanna  Fontana- 
rossa,  and  father  of  Christopher,  Bartholomew,  and 
Giacomo  ^  (or  Diego).  He  states  also  that  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  canons  show  that  the  last  payment  of 
rent  was  made  by  Domenico  Colombo  for  his  dwell- 
ing in  1489.  He  surmises  that  the  admiral  was  born 
in  the  before-mentioned  house  belonging  to  those 
monks,  in  Via  Mulcento,  and  that  he  was  baptized 
m  the  church  of  St.  Stephen.  He  adds  that  an 
ancient  manuscript  was  submitted  to  the  commis- 
sioner of  the  Genoese  academy,  in  the  margin  of 
wliich  the  notary  had  stated  that  the  name  of  Chris- 

1  Spotorno,  Eng.  trans,  p.  xi.  xii. 

2  BoFsi,  French  trans,  p.  76. 


382 


APPENDIX. 


topher  was  on  tlie  register  of  the  parish  as  having 
been  baptized  in  that  church. 

Andres  Bernaldes,  the  curate  of  Los  I^alacios,  who 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Columbus,  says  that  he 
was  of  Genoa.^  Agostino  Giustiniani,  a  contempo- 
rary of  Columbus,  likewise  asserts  it  in  his  Polyglot 
Psalter,  published  in  Genoa,  in  1516.  Antonio  de 
Ilerrera,  an  author  of  great  accuracy,  who,  though 
not  a  contemporary,  had  access  to  the  best  docu- 
ments, asserts  decidedly  that  he  was  born  in  the  city 
of  Genoa. 

To  these  names  may  be  added  that  of  Alexander 
Geraldini,  brother  to  the  nuncio,  and  instructor  tc 
the  children  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  a  most  inti- 
mate friend  of  Columbus.^  Also  Antonio  Gallo,*  Bar- 
tolomeo  Senarega,^  and  Uberto  Foglieta,^  all  contem- 
poraries with  the  admiral,  and  natives  of  Genoa,  to- 
gether with  an  anonymous  writer,  who  published  an 
account  of  his  voyage  of  discovery  at  Venice  in 
1509.'  It  is  unnecessary  to  mention  historians  of 
later  date  agreeing  in  the  same  fact,  as  they  must 
have  derived  their  information  from  some  of  these 
authorities. 

The  question  in  regard  to  the  birthplace  of  Co- 
lumbus has  been  treated  thus  minutely,  because  it 
has  been,  and  still  continues  to  be,  a  point  of  warm 
controversy.  It  may  be  considered,  however,  as  con- 
clusively decided  by  the  highest  authority,  the  evi- 
rlence  of  Columbus  himself    In  a  testament  ex©» 


1  Bossi,  French  trans,  p.  88. 

2  Cura  de  los  Palacios,  MS.  cap.  118. 

8  Alex.  Geraldini,  Itin.  ad.  Reg.  sub.  Aquinor. 

4  Antonio  Gallo,  Anales  of  Genoa,  Muratori,  torn  23* 

5  Senarega,  Muratori,  torn.  24. 
«  Foglieta,  Elog.  Clar.  Ligur. 

^  Grineus,  Nov.  Orb. 


APPENDIX. 


388 


ciited  In  1498,  which  has  been  admitted  in  evidence 
before  the  Spanish  tribunals  in  certain  lawsuits 
among  his.  descendants,  he  twice  declares  that  he 
was  a  native  of  the  city  of  Genoa :  "  Siendo  yo  nacido 
en  GenovaJ'  "  1  being  born  in  Genoa."  And  again, 
he  repeats  the  assertion,  as  a  reason  for  enjoining  cer- 
tain conditions  on  his  heirs,  which  manifest  the  in- 
terest he  takes  in  his  native  place.  I  command 
the  said  Diego,  my  son,  or  the  person  who  inherits 
the  said  mayorazgo  (or  entailed  estate),  that  he 
maintain  always  in  the  city  of  Genoa  a  person  of 
our  lineage,  who  shall  have  a  house  and  a  wife  there, 
and  to  furnish  him  with  an  income  on  which  he  can 
live  decently,  as  a  person  connected  with  our  family, 
and  hold  footing  and  root  in  that  city  as  a  native 
of  it,  so  that  he  may  have  aid  and  favor  in  that  city 
in  case  of  need, /or  from  thence  I  came  and  there  was 
born."  ^ 

In  another  part  of  his  testament  he  expresses  him- 
self with  a  filial  fondness  in  respect  to  Genoa.  "I 
command  the  said  Don  Diego,  or  v^hoever  shall  pos- 
sess the  said  mayorazgo,  that  he  labor  and  strive 
always  for  the  honor,  and  welfare,  and  increase  of 
the  city  of  Genoa,  and  employ  all  his  abilities  and 
means  in  defending  and  augmenting  the  welfare  and 
honor  of  her  republic,  in  all  matters  which  are  not 
contrary  to  the  service  of  the  church  of  God,  and 

*  ''Item.  Mando  el  dicho  Don  Diego  mi  hijo,  d  la  persona 
que  heredare  el  dicho  mayorazgo,  que  tenga  y  sostenga  siem- 
pre  en  la  ciudad  de  Grenova  una  persona  de  nuestro  linage 
que  tenga  alii  casa  e  muger,  e  le  ordene  renta  con  que  pueda 
vivirlionestamente,como  persona  tan  llegadad  nuestro  linage, 
y  haga  pie  y  raiz  en  la  dicha  ciudad  como  natural  della  por- 
que  podra  haber  de  la  dicha  ciudad  ayuda  e  favor  en  las 
cosas  del  menester  suyo,  pues  que  dello  aali  y  en  ella  7iaci." 


884 


API  LNDIX 


the  state  of  the  king  and  queen  our  sovereigns,  and 
their  successors." 

An  informal  codicil,  executed  by  Columbus  at 
Valladolid,  May  4th,  1506,  sixteen  days  before  bia 
death,  was  discovered  about  1785,  in  the  Corsini 
library  at  Rome.  It  is  termed  a  military  codicil, 
from  being  made  in  the  manner  which  the  civil  law 
allows  to  the  soldier  who  executes  such  an  instru- 
ment on  the  eve  of  battle,  or  in  expectation  of  death. 
It  was  written  on  the  blank  page  of  a  little  breviary 
presented  to  Columbus  by  Pope  Alexander  YII. 
Columbus  leaves  the  book  "  to  his  beloved  country, 
the  Republic  of  Genoa.** 

He  directs  the  erection  of  a  hospital  in  that  city 
for  the  poor,  with  provision  for  its  support ;  and  he 
declares  that  republic  his  successor  in  the  admiralty 
of  the  Indies,  in  the  event  of  his  male  line  becoming 
extinct. 

The  authenticity  of  this  paper  has  been  ques- 
tioned. It  has  been  said,  that  there  was  no  probabil- 
ity of  Columbus  having  resort  to  a  usage  with  which 
he  was,  most  likely,  unacquainted.  The  objections 
are  not  cogent.  Columbus  was  accustomed  to  the 
peculiarities  of  a  military  life,  and  he  repeatedly 
wrote  letters,  in  critical  moments,  as  a  precaution 
against  some  fatal  occurrence  that  seemed  to  impend. 
The  present  codicU,  from  its  date,  must  have  been 
written  a  few  days  previous  to  his  death,  perhaps  at 
a  moment  when  he  imagined  himself  at  extremity. 
This  may  account  for  any  difference  in  the  handwrit- 
ing, especially  as  he  was,  at  times,  so  affected  by  the 
gout  in  his  hands  as  not  to  be  able  to  write  cvcept 
at  night.  Particular  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  sig- 
nature ;  but  it  does  not  appear,  that  he  was  uniform 
in  regard  to  that,  and  it  is  a  point  to  which  any  one 
who  attempted  a  forgery  would  be  attentive.  \\ 


APPENDIX. 


385 


iloes  not  appear,  likewise,  that  any  advantage  could 
have  been  obtained  hj  forging  the  paper,  or  that  any 
such  was  attempted, 

Tn  1502,  when  Columbus  was  about  to  depart  on 
his  fourth  and  last  voyage,  he  wrote  to  his  friend, 
Doctor  Nicolo  Oderigo,  formerly  ambassador  from 
Genoa  to  Spain,  and  forwarded  to  him  copies  of  all 
his  grants  and  commissions  from  the  Spanish  sover- 
'jigns,  authenticated  before  the  alcaldes  of  Seville. 
He,  at  the  same  time,  wrote  to  the  bank  of  San 
Giorgio,  at  Genoa,  assigning  a  tenth  of  his  revenues 
to  be  paid  to  that  city  in  diminution  of  the  duties  on 
corn,  wine,  and  other  provisions. 

Why  should  Columbus  feel  this  strong  interest  in 
Genoa,  had  he  been  born  in  any  of  the  other  Italian 
states  which  have  laid  claim  to  him  ?  He  was  under 
no  obligation  to  Genoa.  He  had  resided  there  but 
a  brief  portion  of  his  early  life  ;  and  his  proposition 
for  discovery,  according  to  some  writers,  had  been 
scornfully  rejected  by  that  republic.  There  is  noth- 
ing to  warrant  so  strong  an  interest  in  Genoa,  but 
the  filial  tie  which  links  the  heart  of  a  man  to  his 
native  place,  however  he  may  be  separated  from  it 
by  time  or  distance,  and  however  little  he  may  be 
indebted  to  it  for  favors. 

Again,  had  Columbus  been  born  in  any  of  the 
towns  and  villages  of  the  Genoese  ^oast  which  have 
claimed  him  for  a  native,  why  should  he  have  made 
these  bequests  in  favor  of  the  city  of  Genoa,  and  not 
of  his  native  town  or  village  ? 

These  bequests  were  evidently  dictated  by  a  min- 
fjled  sentiment  of  pride  and  alfection,  which  would 
be  without  all  object  if  not  directed  to  his  native 
place.  He  was  at  this  time  elevated  above  all  petty 
pride  on  the  subject.  Plis  renown  was  so  brilliant, 
that  it  would  have  shed  a  lustre  on  any  hamlet,  how- 

voL.  III.  25 


386 


APPENDIX, 


ever  obscure  ;  and  the  strong  love  of  country  hei« 
manifested,  would  never  have  felt  satisfied,  until  it 
had  singled  out  the  spot,  and  nestled  down,  in  the 
very  cradle  of  his  infancy.  These  appear  to  be 
powerful  reasons,  drawn  from  natural  feeling,  for  de- 
ciding in  favor  of  Genoa. 


No.  vn. 

THE  COLOMBOS. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  life  of  Columbus, 
there  were  two  other  navigators,  bearing  the  same 
name,  of  some  rank  and  celebrity,  with  whom  he 
occasionally  sailed  ;  their  names  occurring  vaguely 
from  time  to  time,  during  the  obscure  part  of  his 
career,  have  caused  much  perplexity  to  some  of  his 
biographers,  who  have  supposed  that  they  designated 
the  discoverer.  Fernando  Columbus  affirms  them  to 
have  been  family  connections,^  and  his  father  says, 
in  one  of  his  letters,  "  I  am  not  the  first  admiral  of 
our  family." 

These  two  were  uncle  and  nephew :  the  latter  be- 
ing termed  by  historians  Colombo  the  younger  (b\ 
the  Spanish  historians,  Colombo  el  mozo).  The^ 
were  in  the  Genoese  service,  but  are  mentioned,  oc- 
casionally, in  old  chronicles  as  French  commanders, 
because  Genoa,  during  a  great  part  of  their  time, 
was  under  the  protection,  or  rather  the  sovereignty 
of  France,  and  her  ships  and  captains,  being  engaged 
in  the  expeditions  of  that  power,  were  identified 
with  the  French  marine. 

Mention  is  made  of  the  elder  Colombo  in  Zurita's 
i  Hist,  del  Almirante,  cap.  1. 


APPENDIX. 


387 


Annals  of  Arragon,  (L.  xix.  p.  261,)  In  the  war  be- 
tween Spain  and  Portugal,  on  the  subject  of  the 
claim  of  the  Princess  Juana  to  the  crown  of  Castile. 
In  1476,  the  king  of  Portugal  determined  to  go  to 
the  Mediterranean  coast  of  France,  to  incite  his  ally, 
Louis  XL,  to  prosecute  the  war  in  the  province  of 
Guipuzcoa. 

The  king  left  Toro,  says  Zurita,  on  the  13th  June, 
and  went  by  the  river  to  the  city  of  Porto,  in  order 
to  await  the  armada  of  the  king  of  France,  the  cap- 
tain of  which  was  Colon  (Colombo),  who  was  to 
navigate  by  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  pass  w  Mar- 
seilles. 

After  some  delays,  Colombo  arrived  in  the  latter 
part  of  July  with  the  French  armada  at  Bermeo^  on 
the  coast  of  Biscay,  where  he  encountered  a  violent 
Btorm,  lost  his  principal  ship,  and  ran  to  the  coast  of 
Galicia,  with  an  intention  of  attacking  Ribaldo,  and 
lost  a  great  many  of  his  men.  Thence  he  went  to 
Lisbon  to  receive  the  king  of  Portugal,  who  em- 
barked in  the  fleet  in  August,  with  a  number  of  his 
noblemen,  and  took  two  thousand  two  hundred  foot 
soldiers,  and  four  hundred  and  seventy  horse,  to 
strengthen  the  Portuguese  garrisons  along  the  Bar- 
bary  coast.  There  were  in  the  squadron  twelve  ships 
and  five  caravels.  After  touching  at  Ceuta  the  fleet 
proceeded  to  Colibre,  where  the  king  disembarked 
in  the  middle  of  September,  the  weather  not  permit- 
ting them  to  proceed  to  Marseilles.  (Zurita,  L.  xix. 
,Ch.  51.) 

This  Colombo  is  evidently  the  naval  commander 
of  whom  the  following  mention  is  made  by  Jacques 
George  de  Chaufeple,  in  his  supplement  to  Bayle, 
(vol.  2.  p.  126  of  letter  C.) 

"  I  do  not  know  what  dependence,"  says  Chaufe- 
pie,  "  is  to  be  placed  on  a  fact  reported  in  the  Duca" 


388 


APPENDIX. 


liana  (Part  1,  p.  143),  that  Columbus  was  In  1474 
captain  of  several  ships  for  Louis  XL,  and  that,  as 
the  Spaniards  had  made  at  that  time  an  irruption 
into  Roussillon,  he  thought  that,  for  reprisal,  and 
without  contravening  the  peace  between  the  two 
crowns,  he  could  run  down  Spanish  vessels.  lie  at- 
tacked, therefore,  and  took  two  galleys  of  that  na- 
tion, freighted  on  the  account  of  various  individuals. 
On  complaints  of  this  action  being  made  to  King 
Ferdinand,  he  wrote  on  the  subject  to  Louis  XL  ; 
his  letter  is  dated  the  9th  December,  1474.  Ferdi- 
nand terms  Christopher  Columbus  a  subject  of  Louis ; 
it  was  because,  as  is  known,  Columbus  was  a  Geno- 
ese, and  Louis  was  sovereign  of  Genoa ;  although 
that  city  and  Savona  were  held  of  him  in  fief  by 
the  duke  of  Milan." 

It  is  highly  probable  that  it  was  the  squadron  of 
this  same  Colombo  of  whom  the  circumstance  is 
related  by  Bossi,  and  after  him  by  Spotorno  on  the 
authority  of  a  letter  found  in  the  archives  of  Milan, 
and  written  in  1476  by  two  illustrious  Milanese 
gentlemen,  on  their  return  from  Jerusalem.  The 
letter  states  that  in  the  previous  year  1475,  as  the 
Venetian  fleet  was  stationed  off  Cyprus  to  guard 
the  island,  a  Genoese  squadron,  commanded  by  one 
Colombo,  sailed  by  them  with  an  air  of  defiance, 
shouting  Viva  San  Giorgia  !  "  As  the  republics 
were  then  at  peace  they  were  permitted  to  pass  un- 
molested. 

Bossi  supposes  that  the  Colombo  here  mentioned 
was  Christopher  Columbus  the  discoverer  ;  but  it  ap- 
pears rather  to  have  been  the  old  Genoese  admiral 
of  that  name,  who  according  to  Zurita  was  about 
that  time  cruising  in  the  Mediterranean ;  and  who, 
in  all  probability,  was  the  hero  of  both  the  preceding 
recurrences. 


APPENDIX. 


389 


The  nephew  of  this  Colombo,  called  by  the  Span 
iards  Colombo  el  mozo,  commanded  a  few  years  after- 
wards a  squadron  in  the  French  service,  as  will  ap- 
pear in  a  subsequent  illustration,  and  Columbus  majp 
at  various  times  have  held  an  inferior  command  under 
both  uncle  and  nephew,  and  been  present  on  the 
above  cited  occasions. 


No.  yiii. 

EXPEDITION  OF  JOHN  OF  ANJOU. 

About  the  time  that  Columbus  attained  his  twenty- 
fourth  year,  his  native  city  was  in  a  state  of  great 
alarm  and  peril  from  the  threatened  invasion  of  Al- 
phonso  y.  of  Aragon,  king  of  Naples.  Finding  itself 
too  weak  to  contend  singly  with  such  a  foe,  and 
having  in  vain  looked  for  assistance  from  Italy,  it 
placed  itself  under  the  protection  of  Charles  the 
Vllth  of  France.  That  monarch  sent  to  its  assist- 
ance John  of  Anjou,  son  of  Rene  or  Renato,  king 
of  Naples,  who  had  been  dispossessed  of  his  crown 
by  Alphonso.  John  of  Anjou,  otherwise  called  the 
Duke  of  Calabria,-^  immediately  took  upon  himself 
the  command  of  the  place,  repaired  its  fortifications, 
and  defended  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  with  strong 
chains.  In  the  mean  time,  Alphonso  had  prepared 
a  large  land  force,  and  assembled  an  armament  of 
twenty  ships  and  ten  galleys  at  Ancona,  on  the 
frontiers  of  Genoa.  The  situation  of  the  latter  was 
considered  eminently  perilous,  when  Alphonso  sud- 
denly fell  ill  of  a  calenture  and  died  ;   leaving  the 

1  Duke  of  Calabria  was  a  title  of  the  heir  apparent  to  th« 
rrown  of  Naples. 


390 


APPENDIX. 


kingdoms  of  Anjou  and  Sicily  to  his  brother  John, 
and  the  kingdom  of  Naples  to  his  son  Ferdinand. 

The  dcatli  of  Alphonso,  and  the  subsequent  divis- 
ion of  his  dominions,  while  they  relieved  the  fears 
of  the  Genoese,  gave  rise  to  new  hopes  on  the  part 
of  the  house  of  Anjou  :  and  the  Duke  John,  encour- 
aged by  emissaries  from  various  powerful  partisans 
among  the  Neapolitan  nobility,  determined  to  make 
a  bold  attempt  upon  Naples  for  the  recovery  of  the 
crown.  The  Genoese  entered  into  his  cause  with  spirit, 
furnishing  him  with  ships,  gallejs,  and  money.  His 
father,  Rene  or  Renato,  fitted  out  twelve  galleys  for 
the  expedition  in  the  harbor  of  Marseilles,  and  sent 
him  assurance  of  an  abundant  supply  of  money,  and 
of  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  France.  The  bril- 
liant nature  of  the  enterprise  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  daring  and  restless  spirits  of  the  times.  The 
chivalrous  nobleman,  the  soldier  of  fortune,  the  hardy 
corsair,  the  bold  adventurer,  or  the  military  partisan 
enlisted  under  the  banners  of  the  Duke  of  Calabria. 
It  is  stated  by  historians,  that  Columbus  served  in  the 
armament  from  Genoa,  in  a  squadron  commanded  by 
one  of  the  Colombos,  his  relations. 

The  expedition  sailed  in  October,  1459,  and  ar- 
rived at  Sessa,  between  the  mouths  of  the  Garigli- 
ano  and  the  Volturno.  The  news  of  its  arrival  was 
the  signal  of  universal  revolt ;  the  factious  barons, 
and  their  vassals,  hastened  to  join  the  standard  of 
Anjou,  and  ^he  duke  soon  saw  the  finest  provinces 
of  the  Neapolitan  dominions  at  his  command,  and 
with  his  army  and  squadron  menaced  the  city  of 
Naples  itself. 

In  the  history  of  this  expedition  we  meet  with  one 
hazardous  action  of  the  fleet  in  which  Columbus  had 
embarked. 

The  army  of  John  of  Anjou  being  closely  invAsted 


APPENDIX. 


391 


by  a  superior  force  was  In  a  perilous  predicament  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Sarno.  In  this  conjuncture,  the 
captain  of  the  armada  landed  with  his  men,  and 
scoured  the  neighborhood,  hoping  to  awaken  in  the 
populace  their  former  enthusiasm  for  the  banner  of 
Anjou;  and  perhaps  to  take  Naples  by  surprise.  A 
chosen  company  of  Neapolitan  infantry  was  senfc 
against  them.  The  troops  from  the  fleet  having  lit- 
tle of  the  discipline  of  regular  soldiery,  and  much 
of  the  freebooting  disjDOsition  of  maritime  rovers, 
had  scattered  themselves  about  the  country,  intent 
chiefly  upon  spoil.  They  were  attacked  by  the 
infantry  and  put  to  rout,  with  the  loss  of  many 
killed  and  wounded.  Endeavoring  to  make  their 
way  back  to  the  ships,  they  found  the  passes  seized 
and  blocked  up  by  the  people  of  Sorrento,  who  as- 
sailed them  with  dreadful  havoc.  Their  flight  now 
became  desperate  and  headlong,  many  threw  them- 
selves from  rocks  and  precipices  into  the  sea,  and 
but  a  small  portion  regained  the  ships. 

The  contest  of  John  of  Anjou  lor  the  crown  of 
Naples,  lasted  four  years.  For  a  time  fortune 
favored  him,  and  the  prize  seemed  almost  within 
his  grasp,  but  reverses  succeeded :  he  was  defeated 
at  various  points  ;  the  factious  nobles,  one  by  one, 
deserted  him,  and  returned  to  their  allegiance  to 
Alphonso,  and  the  duke  was  finally  compelled  to 
retire  to  the  island  of  Ischia.  Here  he  remained 
tor  some  time,  guarded  by  eight  galleys,  which  like- 
wise harassed  the  Bay  of  Naples.^  In  this  squadron, 
which  loyally  adhered  to  him,  until  he  ultimately 
abandoned  this  unfortunate  enterprise,  Columbus  is 
stated  to  have  served. 


I  Colenuccio,  Hist.  Nap.,  lib.  vii.  cap.  17. 


892 


APPENDIX 


No.  IX. 

CAPTURE    OF    THE    VENETIAN    GALLEYS,    BY  CO* 
LOMBO  THE  YOUNGER. 

As  the  account  of  the  sea-fight  by  which  Fer- 
nando Columbus  asserts  that  his  father  was  first 
thrown  upon  the  shores  of  Portugal,  has  been 
adopted  by  various  respectable  historians,  it  is  proper 
to  give  particular  reasons  for  discrediting  it. 

Fernando  expressly  says,  that  it  was  an  action 
mentioned  by  Marco  Antonio  Sabelico,  in  the  eighth 
book  of  his  tenth  Decade ;  that  the  squadron  in 
which  Columbus  served  was  commanded  by  a  famous 
corsair,  called  Columbus  the  younger  (Colombo  el 
mozo),  and  that  an  embassy  was  sent  from  Venice 
to  thank  the  king  of  Portugal  for  the  succor  he 
afforded  to  the  Venetian  captains  and  crews.  All 
this  is  certainly  recorded  in  Sabellicus,  but  the  bat- 
tle took  place  in  1485,  after  Colambus  had  left 
Portugal.  Zurita  in  his  Annals  of  Aragon,  under  the 
date  of  1G85,  mentions  this  same  action.  He  says, 
*'  at  this  time  four  Venetian  galleys  sailed  from  the 
island  of  Cadiz,  and  took  the  route  for  Flanders  ; 
they  were  laden  with  merchandise  from  the  Levant, 
especially  from  the  island  of  Sicily,  and  passing  by 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  they  were  attacked  by  a  French 
corsair,  son  of  Captain  Colon  (Colombo),  who  had 
seven  vessels  in  his  armada  ;  and  the  galleys  were 
captured  the  tw^enty-first  of  August."  ^ 

A  much  fuller  account  is  given  in  the  life  of  King 
John  11.  of  Portugal,  by  Garcia  de  Resende,  who 
likewise  records  it  as  happening  in  1485.  He  says 
.he  Venetian  galleys  were  taken  and  robbed  by  the 
^  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  Hb.  xx.  caa.  64. 


APPENDIX. 


393 


Frencli,  and  the  captains  and  crews,  wounded,  plun- 
dered, and  maltreated,  were  turned  on  shore  at 
Cascoes.  Here  they  were  succored  by  Doiia  Maria 
de  Meneses,  countess  of  Monsanto. 

When  King  John  II.  heard  of  the  circumstance, 
being  much  grieved  that  such  an  event  should  have 
happened  on  his  coast,  and  being  disposed  to  show  his 
friendship  for  the  Republic  of  Venice,  he  ordered 
that  the  Venetian  captains  should  be  furnished  with 
rich  raiment  of  silks  and  costly  cloths,  and  provided 
with  horses  and  mules,  that  they  might  make  their 
appearance  before  him  in  a  style  befitting  themselves 
and  their  country.  He  received  them  with  great 
kindness  and  distinction,  expressing  himself  with 
princely  courtesy,  both  as  to  themselves  and  the  Re- 
public of  Venice ;  and  having  heard  their  account 
of  the  battle,  and  of  their  destitute  situation,  he 
assisted  them  with  a  large  sum  of  money  to  ransom 
their  galleys  from  the  French  cruisers.  The  latter 
took  all  the  merchandises  on  board  of  their  ships, 
but  King  John  prohibited  any  of  the  spoil  from  being 
purchased  within  his  dominions.  Having  thus  gen- 
erously relieved  and  assisted  the  captains,  and  ad- 
ministered to  the  necessities  of  their  crews,  he 
enabled  them  all  to  return  in  their  own  galleys  to 
Venice. 

The  dignitaries  of  the  republic  were  so  highly 
sensible  of  this  munificence,  on  the  part  of  King 
John,  that  they  sent  a  stately  embassy  to  that  mon- 
arch, with  rich  presents  and  warm  expressions  of 
gratitude.  Geronimo  Donate  was  charged  with  this 
mission,  a  man  eminent  for  learning  and  eloquence  ; 
he  was  honorably  received  and  entertained  by  King 
John,  and  dismissed  with  royal  presents,  among  which 
^  were  jenets  and  mules,  with  sumptuous  trappings 
and  caparisons,  and  many  negro  slaves  richly  clad.^ 
1  Obras  de  Garcia  de  Resende,  cap.  58,  Avora,  1554. 


394 


APPENDIX. 


The  following  Is  the  account  of  this  action  as  given 
by  Sabellicus,  in  his  history  of  Venice  :  ^ 

Erano  andate  quattro  Galee  delle  quali  Bartolom- 
meo  Minio  era  capitano.  Queste  navigando  per 
I'Iberico  mare,  Colombo  il  piu  giovane,  nipote  di  quel 
Colombo  famoso  corsale,  fecesi  incontro  a'  Yeniziani 
di  notte,  appresso  il  sacro  Promontorio,  che  chiamasi 
ora  capo  di  san  Vincenzo,  con  sette  navi  guernite  da 
combattere.  Egli  quantunque  nel  primo  incontro 
avesse  seco  disposto  d'  opprimere  le  navi  Yeniziane, 
si  ritenne  pero  dal  combattere  sin  al  giorno  :  tuttavia 
per  esser  alia  battaglia  piu  acconcio  cosi  le  seguia, 
che  le  prode  del  corsale  toccavano  le  poppe  de  Yen- 
iziani. Yenuto  il  giorno  incontanente  i  Barbari 
diedero  V  assalto.  Sostennero  i  Yeniziani  allora 
r  empito  del  nemico,  per  numero  di  navi  e  di  com- 
battenti  superiore,  e  duro  il  conflitto  atroce  per  molte 
ore.  Rare  £ate  fu  combattuto  contro  simili  nemici 
con  tanta  uccisione,  perche  a  pena  si  costuma  d'  at- 
taccarsi  contro  di  loro,  se  non  per  occasione.  Affer- 
mano  alcuni,  che  vi  furono  presenti,  esser  morte 
delle  ciurme  Yeniziane  da  trecento  uomini.  Altri 
dicono  che  fu  meno :  mori  in  quella  zuffa  Lorenzo 
Michele  capitano  d'una  galera  e  Giovanni  Delfino, 
d'  altro  capitano  fratello.  Era  durata  la  zufFa  dal 
fare  del  giorno  fin'  ad  ore  venti,  e  erano  le  genti 
Yeneziane  mal  trattate.    Era  gia  la  nave  Delfina  in 

1  Marco  Antonio  Coccio,  better  known  under  the  name  of 
Sabillicus,  a  cognomen  which  he  adopted  on  being  crowned 
poet  in  the  pedantic  academy  of  Pomponius  Laetus.  He  was 
a  contemporary  of  Columbus,  and  makes  brief  mention  of  his 
discoveries  in  the  eighth  book  of  the  tenth  Ennead  of  his 
universal  history.  By  some  writers  he  is  called  the  Livy  of 
his  time;  others  accuse  him  of  being  full  of  misrepresenta- 
tions in  favor  of  Venice.  The  older  Scaliger  charges  him' 
•vith  venality,  and  with  being  swayed  by  Venetian  gold. 


APPENDIX, 


895 


potere  de'  nemici  quando'le  altre  ad  una  ad  una  si  ren- 
derono.  Narrano  alcuni,  die  furono  di  quel  aspro  con- 
Hitto  partecipi,  aver  numerate  nelle  loro  navi  da  prode 
a  poppe  ottanta  valorosi  uomini  estinti,  i  quali  dal 
nemico  veduti  lo  mossero  a  gemere  e  dire  con  sdegno, 
che  cosi  avevano  voluto,  i  Veniziani.  I  corpi  morti 
furono  gettati  nel  mare,  e  i  feriti  posti  nel  lido.  Quel 
che  rimasero  vivi  seguirono  con  e  naovi  il  capitaii 
vittorioso  sin'  a  Lisbona  e  ivi  furono  tutti  licenziati. 

 Quivi  furono  i  Veniziani  ben- 

ignamente  ricevuti  dal  Ee,  gli  infermi  furono  medi- 
cati,  gli  altri  ebbero  abiti  e  denari  secondo  la  loro 

eondizione  Oltre  cio  viet5 

in  tutto  il  Kegno,  che  alcuno  non  comprasse  della 
preda  Veniziana,  portata  dai  corsali.  La  nuova  delP 
avuta  rovina  non  poco  afflisse  la  citfca,  erano  perduti 
in  quella  mercatanzia  da  ducento  mila  ducati ;  ma  L 
danno  particolare  degli  uomini  uccisi  diede  maggior 
afflizione. 

Marc,  Ant,  Sahelico,  Hist,  Venet,,  decad.  iv.  lib.  iii. 


No.  X. 

AMERIGO  VESPUCCI. 

Among  the  earliest  and  most  intelligent  of  the 
voyagers  who  followed  the  track  of  Columbus,  wao 
Amerigo  Vespucci.  He  has  been  considered  by 
many  as  the  first  discoverer  of  the  southern  continent, 
and  by  a  singular  caprice  of  fortune,  his  name  has 
been  given  to  the  whole  of  the  New  World.  It  has 
been  strenuously  insisted,  however,  that  he  had  no 
•\aim  to  the  title  of  a  discoverer ;  that  he  merely 


396 


APPENDIX. 


sailed  in  a  subordinate  capa'city  in  a  squadron  com- 
manded by  others  ;  that  the  account  of  his  first  voy- 
age is  a  fabrication  ;  and  that  he  did  not  visit  the 
main-land  until  after  it  liad  been  discovered  and 
coasted  by  Columbus.  As  this  question  has  been 
made  a  matter  of  warm  and  voluminous  controversy, 
it  is  proper  to  take  a  summary  view  of  it  in  the  pres- 
ent work. 

Amerigo  Vespucci  was  born  in  Florence,  March 
9th,  1451,  of  a  noble,  but  not  at  that  time  a  wealthy 
family  ;  his  father's  name  was  Anastatio ;  his  mother's 
was  Elizabetta  Mini.  He  was  the  third  of  their 
sons,  and  received  an  excellent  education  under  his 
uncle,  Georgio  Antonio  Vespucci,  a  learned  friar  of 
the  fraternity  of  San  Marco,  who  was  instructor  to 
several  illustrious  personages  of  that  period. 

Amerigo  Vespucci  visited  Spain,  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Seville,  to  attend  to  some  commercial 
transactions  on  account  of  the  family  of  the  Medici 
of  Florence,  and  to  repair,  by  his  ingenuity,  the 
losses  and  misfortunes  of  an  unskillful  brother.'^ 

The  date  of  his  arrival  in  Spain  is  uncertain,  but 
from  comparing  dates  and  circumstances  mentioned 
in  his  letters,  he  must  have  been  at  Seville  when 
Columbus  returned  from  his  first  voyage. 

Padre  Stanislaus  Canovai,  Professor  of  Mathemat- 
ics at  Florence,  who  has  published  the  life  and  voy- 
ages of  Amerigo  Vespucci,  says  that  he  was  commis- 
Fsioned  by  King  Ferdinand,  and  sent  with  Columbus 
in  his  second  voyage  in  1493.  He  states  this  on  the 
authority  of  a  passage  in  the  Cosmography  of  Sebas- 
tian Munster,  published  at  Basle  in  1550  ;^  but  Mun- 
ster  mentions  Vespucci  as  having  accompanied  Co- 
lumbus in  his  first  voyage  ;  the  reference  of  Canovai  is 

1  Bandini  vita  d' Amerigo  Vespucci. 

2  Cosna.  Munst.,  p.  1108. 


APPENDIX. 


397 


therefore  incorrect ;  and  the  suggestion  of  Munster  is 
tlisproved  by  the  letters  of  Vespucci,  in  which  he  stales 
his  having  been  stimulated  by  the  accounts  brought 
of  the  newly  discovered  regions.  He  never  mentions 
such  a  voyage  in  any  of  his  letters ;  which  he  most 
probably  would  have  done,  or  rather  would  ha.ve 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  eopious  letter,  had  he  acta- 
ally  performed  it. 

The  first  notice  of  a  positive  form  which  we  have 
of  Vespucci,  as  resident  in  Spain,  is  early  in  1496. 
He  appears,  from  documents  in  the  royal  archives  at 
Seville,  to  have  acted  as  agent  or  factor  for  the  house 
of  Juanoto  Berardi,  a  rich  Florentine  merchant,  resi- 
dent in  Seville  ;  who  had  contracted  to  furnish  the 
Spanish  sovereigns  with  three  several  armaments,  of 
four  vessels  each,  for  the  service  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered countries.  He  may  have  been  one  of  the 
principals  in  this  affair,  which  was  transacted  in  the 
name  of  this  established  house.  Berardi  died  in 
December,  1495,  and  in  the  following  January  we 
find  Amerigo  Vespucci  attending  to  the  concerns  of 
the  expeditions,  and  settling  with  the  masters  of  the 
ships  for  their  pay  and  maintenance,  according  to 
the  agreements  made  between  them  and  the  late  Jua- 
noto Berardi.  On  the  12th  January,  1496,  he  re- 
ceived on  this  account  10,000  maravedis  from  Ber- 
nardo Pinelo  the  royal  treasurer.  He  went  on  pre- 
paring all  things  for  the  dispatch  of  four  caravels  to 
sail  under  the  same  contract  between  the  sovereigns 
and  the  house  of  Berardi,  and  sent  them  to  sea  on 
the  3d  February,  1496  ;  but  on  the  8th  they  met 
with  a  storm  and  were  wrecked ;  the  crews  were 
saved  with  the  loss  of  only  three  men.^    While  thus 

1  These  particulars  are  from  manuscript  memoranda,  ex- 
tracted from  the  royal  archives,  by  the  last  accurate  historian 
Munoz. 


898 


APPENDIX. 


employed,  Amerigo  Vespucci,  of  course,  tad  oc- 
casional opportunity  of  conversing  with  Columbus, 
with  whom,  according  to  the  expression  of  the  ad- 
miral himself,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  his  son  Diego, 
he  appears  to  have  been  always  on  friendly  terms. 
From  these  conversations,  and  from  his  agency  in 
these  expeditions,  he  soon  became  excited  to  visit 
the  newly  discovered  countries,  and  to  participate  in 
enterprises,  which  were  the  theme  of  every  tongue. 
Having  made  himself  well  acquainted  with  geograph- 
ical and  nautical  science,  he  prepared  to  launch  into 
the  career  of  discovery.  It  was  not  very  long  before 
he  carried  this  design  into  execution. 

In  1498,  Columbus,  in  his  third  voyage,  discovered 
the  coast  of  Pari  a,  on  Terra  Firma ;  which  he  at 
that  time  imagined  to  be  a  great  island,  but  that  a 
vast  continent  lay  immediately  adjacent.  He  sent 
to  Spain  specimens  of  pearls  found  on  this  coast,  and 
gave  the  most  sanguine  accounts  of  the  supposed 
riches  of  the  country. 

In  1499,  an  expedition  of  four  vessels  under  com- 
mand of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  was  fitted  out  from  Spain, 
and  sailed  for  Paria,  guided  by  charts  and  letters 
Bent  to  the  government  by  Columbus.  These  were 
communicated  to  Ojeda,  by  his  patron,  the  Bishop 
Fonseca,  who  had  the  superintendence  of  India  af- 
fairs, and  who  furnished  him  also  with  a  warrant  to 
undertake  the  voyage. 

It  is  presumed  that  Vespucci  aided  in  fitting  out 
the  armament,  and  sailed  in  a  vessel  belonging  to  the 
house  of  Berardi,  and  in  this  way  was  enabled  to 
take  a  share  in  the  gains  and  losses  of  the  expe- 
dition ;  for  Isabella,  as  queen  of  Castile,  had  rigor- 
ously forbidden  all  strangers  to  trade  with  her  trans- 
atlantic possessions,  not  even  excepting  the  nativ^M 
of  the  kingdom  of  Aragon. 


APPENDIX, 


399 


This  squadron  visited  Paria  and  several  hundred 
miles  of  the  coast,  which  they  ascertained  to  be 
Terra  Firma.  They  returned  in  June,  1500;  and 
on  the  18th  of  July,  in  that  year,  Amerigo  Vespucci 
wrote  an  account  of  his  voyage  to  Lorenzo  de  Pier 
Francisco  de  Medici  of  Florence,  which  remained 
concealed  in  manuscript,  until  brought  to  light  and 
published  by  Bandini  in  1745. 

In  his  account  of  this  voyage,  and  in  every  other 
narrative  of  his  different  expeditions,  Vespucci  never 
mentions  any  other  person  concerned  in  the  enter- 
prise. He  gives  the  time  of  his  sailing,  and  states 
that  he  went  with  two  caravels,  which  were  probably 
his  share  of  the  expedition,  or  rather  vessels  sent  by 
the  house  of  Berardi.  He  gives  an  interesting  nar- 
rative of  the  voyage,  and  of  the  various  transactions 
with  the  natives,  which  corresponds,  in  many  sub- 
stantial points,  with  the  accounts  furnished  by  Ojeda 
and  his  mariners  of  their  voyage,  in  a  lawsuit  here- 
after mentioned. 

In  May,  1501,  Vespucci,  having  suddenly  left 
Spain,  sailed  in  the  service  of  Emanuel,  king  of  Por- 
tugal ;  in  the  course  of  which  expedition  he  visited 
the  coast  of  Brazil.  He  gives  an  account  of  this 
voyage  in  a  second  letter  to  Lorenzo  de  Pier  Fran- 
cisco de  Medici,  which  also  remained  in  manuscript 
until  published  by  Bartolozzi  in  1789.^ 

No  record  nor  notice  of  any  such  voyage  under- 
taken by  Amerigo  Vespucci,  at  the  command  of 
Emanuel,  is  to  be  found  in  the  archives  of  the  Torre 
do  Tombo,  the  general  archives  of  Portugal,  which 
have  been  repeatedly  and  diligently  searched  for  the 
purpose.  It  is  singular  also  that  his  name  is  not  to  be 
found  in  any  of  the  Portuguese  historians,  who  in 
general  were  very  particular  in  naming  all  navigators 
1  Bartolozzi,  Recherche  Historico.    Firenze,  1789. 


400 


APPENDIX. 


who  It  eld  any  important  station  among  them,  or  ren 
dered  any  distinguished  services.  That  Yespucci  did 
Bail  along  the  coasts,  however,  is  not  questioned.  Plis 
nephew,  after  his  death,  in  the  course  of  evidence  on 
some  points  in  dispute,  gave  the  correct  latitude  of 
Cape  St.  Augustine,  vv^hich  he  said  he  had  extracted 
from  his  uncle's  journal. 

In  1504,  Yespucci  wrote  a  third  letter  to  the  same 
Lorenzo  de  Medici,  containing  a  more  extended  ac- 
count of  the  voyage  just  alluded  to  in  the  service  of 
Portugal.  This  was  the  first  of  his  narratives  that 
appeared  in  print.  It  appears  to  have  been  pub- 
lished in  Latin,  at  Strasburgh,  as  early  as  1505, 
under  thie  title  "  Americus  Yesputius  de  Orbe  Ant- 
arctica per  Regem  Portugallise  pridem  inventa."  ^ 

An  edition  of  this  letter  w^as  printed  in  Yicenza 
in  1507,  in  an  anonymous  collection  of  voyages 
edited  by  Francanzio  di  Monte  Alboddo,  an  inhab- 
itant of  Yicenza.  It  was  reprinted  in  Italian  in 
1508,  at  Milan,  and  also  in  Latin,  in  a  book  entitled 
Itinerarium  Portugalensium.  In  making  the  present 
illustration,  the  Milan  edition  in  Italian  ^  has  been 

1  Panzer,  torn.  vi.  p.  33,  apud  Esame  Critico,  p.  88,  Anota- 
zione  1. 

2  This  rare  book,  in  the  possession  of  0.  Rich,  Esq.,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  oldest  printed  collection  of  voyages  extant, 
It  has  not  the  pages  numbered,  the  sheets  are  mereh^  marked 
xvith  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  at  the  foot  of  each  eighth  page. 
It  contains  the  earliest  account  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus, 
from  his  first  departure  until  his  arrival  at  Cadiz  in  chains. 
The  letter  of  Vespucci  to  Lorenzo  de  Medici  occupies  the  fifth 
book  of  this  little  volume.  It  is  stated  to  have  been  originally 
livTitten  in  Spanish,  and  translated  into  Italian  by  a  person  of 
the  name  of  Jocondo.  An  earlier  edition  is  stated  to  have 
been  printed  in  Venice  by  Alberto  Vcrcellese,  in  1504.  The 
author  is  said  to  have  been  Angelo  Trivigiani,  secretary  to 
the  Venetian  ambassador  in  Spain.    This  Trivigiani  nppearsi 


APPENDIX, 


401 


consulted,  and  also  a  Latin  translation  of  it  by  Simon 
Gringeiis,  in  his  Novus  Orbis,  published  at  Basle  in 
1532.  It  relates  entirely  the  first  voyage  of  Yes- 
pucci  from  Lisbon  to  the  Brazils  in  1501. 

It  is  from  this  voyage  to  the  Brazils  that  Amerigo 
Vespucci  was  first  /considered  the  discoverer  of  Terra 
Firma ;  and  his  name  was  at*  first  applied  to  these 
southern  regions,  though  afterwards  extended  to  the 
whole  continent.  The  merits  of  his  voyage  were, 
however,  greatly  exaggerated.  The  Brazils  had  been 
previously  discovered,  and  formally  taken  possession 
of  for  Spain  in  1500,  by  Vincente  Yaiiez  Pinzon; 
and  also  in  the  same  year,  by  Pedro  Alvarez  Cabral, 
on  the  part  of  Portugal ;  circumstances  unknown 
however  to  Vespucci  and  his  associates.  The  coun- 
try remained  in  possession  of  Portugal,  in  conformity 
to  the  line  of  demarcation  agreed  on  between  the 
iwo  nations. 

Vespucci  made  a  second  voyage  in  the  service  of 
Portugal.  He  says  that  he  commanded  a  caravel  in 
a  squadron  of  six  vessels  destined  for  the  discovery 
of  Malacca,  which  they  had  heard  to  be  the  great 
depot  and  magazine  of  all  the  trade  between  the 
Ganges  and  the  Indian  sea.  Such  an  expedition  did 
sail  about  this  time,  under  the  command  of  Gonzalo 
Coelho.  The  squadron  sailed,  according  to  Vespucci, 
on  the  10th  of  May,  1503.  It  stopped  at  the  Cape 
de  Verd  Islands  for  refreshments,  and  afterwards 
sailed  by  the  coast  of  Sierra  Leone,  but  was  pre- 
vented from  landing  by  contrary  winds  and  a  turbu- 

to  have  collected  many  of  the  particulars  ot  the  voyages  of 
Columbus  from  the  manuscript  decades  of  Peter  Martyr,  wh« 
erroneously  lays  the  charge  of  the  plagiarism  to  Aloysins 
Cadamosto,  whose  voyages  are  inserted  in  the  same  collection. 
The  book  was  entitled  "  Libretto  di  tutta  la  navigazione  del 
R0  de  Espayna^  delle  I  sole  e  terreni  nuovamente  trovaU,*^ 
VOL.  III.  26 


402 


APPENDIX. 


lent  sea.  Standing  to  the  south-west,  they  ran  tliree 
hundred  Kia<iues  until  they  were  three  degrees  io  tha 
.southward  of  the  equinoctial  line,  where  they  dis- 
covered an  uninhabited  island,  about  two  leagues  in 
length  and  one  in  breadth.  Here,  on  the  10th  of 
August,  by  mismanagement,  the  commander  of  the 
squadron  ran  his  vessel  on  a  rock  and  lost  her 
While  the  other  vessels  were  assisting  to  save  the 
crew  and  property  from  the  wreck,  Amerigo  Ves- 
pucci was  dispatched  in  his  caravel  to  search  for  a 
safe  harbor  in  the  island.  He  departed  in  his  vessel 
without  his  long-boat,  and  with  less  than  half  of  his 
crew,  the  rest  having  gone  in  the  boat  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  wreck.  Vespucci  found  a  harbor,  but 
waited  in  vain  for  several  days  for  the  arrival  of  the 
ships.  Standing  out  to  sea  he  met  with  a  solitary 
vessel,  and  learnt  that  the  ship  of  the  commander 
had  sunk,  and  the  rest  had  proceeded  onwards.  In 
company  with  this  vessel  he  stood  for  the  Brazils,  ac- 
cording to  the  command  of  the  king,  in  case  that  any 
vessel  should  be  parted  from  the  fleet.  Arriving 
on  the  coast  he  discovered  the  famous  Bay  of  All 
Saints,  where  he  remained  upwards  of  two  months, 
in  hopes  of  being  joined  by  the  rest  of  the  fleet.  He 
at  length  ran  260  leagues  farther  south,  where  he  re- 
mained five  months  buildino;  a  fort  and  takini^  in  a 
cargo  of  Brazil-wood.  Then,  leaving  in  the  fortress 
a  garrison  of  24  men  with  arms  and  ammunition,  he 
set  sail  for  Lisbon,  where  he  arrived  in  June,  1504.-^ 
The  commander  of  the  squadron  and  the  other  four 
ehips  were  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

Vespucci  does  not  appear  to  have  received  the 
reward  from  the  king  of  Portugal  that  his  services 
merited,  for  we  find  him  at  Seville  early  in  1505,  on 

1  Letter  of  Vespucci  to  Soderini  or  Renato  —  Edit.  </ 
Canovai. 


APPENDIX. 


403 


bis  way  to  the  Spanish  court,  in  quest  of  employ- 
ment :  and  he  was  bearer  of  a  letter  from  Columbus 
tQ  his  son  Diego,  dated  February  5,  which,  while  it 
speaks  warmly  of  him  as  a  friend,  intimates  his  hav- 
ing been  unfortunate.   The  following  Is  the  letter  :  — 

My  dear  Son, — Diego  Mendez  departed  hence  on 
Monday,  the  third  of  this  month.  After  his  depar- 
ture I  conversed  with  Amerigo  Vespucci,  the  bearer 
of  this,  who  goes  there  (to  court)  summoned  on  af- 
fairs of  navigation.  Fortune  has  been  adverse  to 
him  as  to  many  others.  His  labors  have  not  profited 
him  as  much  as  they  reasonably  should  have  done. 
He  goes  on  my  account,  and  with  much  desire  to  do 
something  that  may  result  to  my  advantage,  if  within 
his  power.  I  cannot  ascertain  here  in  what  I  can 
employ  him,  that  will  be  serviceable  to  me,  for  I  do 
not  know  what  may  be  there  required.  He  goes 
with  the  determination  to  do  all  that  is  possible  for 
me ;  see  in  what  he  may  be  of  advantage  and  co- 
operate with  him,  that  he  may  say  and  do  every- 
thing, and  put  his  plans  in  operation ;  and  let  all  be 
done  secretly,  that  he  may  not  be  suspected.  I  have 
said  everything  to  him  that  I  can  say  touching  the 
business,  and  have  informed  him  of  the  pay  I  have 
received,  and  what  is  due,  &c.^ 

About  this  time  Amerigo  Vespucci  received  lettei^ 
of  naturalization  from  King  Ferdinand,  and  shortly 
afterwards  he  and  Vincente  Yanez  Pinzon  were 
named  captains  of  an  armada  about  to  be  sent  out  in 
the  spice  trade  and  to  make  discoveries.  There  is  a 
royal  order,  dated  Toro,  11th  April,  1507,  for  12,000 
maravedis  for  an  outfit  for  "  Americo  de  Vespuche, 
resident  of  Seville."  Preparations  were  made  for 
this  voyage,  and  vessels  procured  and  fitted  out,  but 
1  Navarrete,  Colec.  Viag.,  torn.  i.  p.  351. 


401 


APPENDIX. 


it  was  eventually  abandoned.  There  are  memoranda 
existing  concerning  it,  dated  in  1506,  1507,  and 
1008,  from  which  it  appears  that  Amerigo  Vespucci 
remained  at  Seville,  attending  to  the  fluctuating  con- 
cerns of  this  squadron,  until  the  destination  of  the 
vessels  was  changed,  their  equipments  were  sold,  and 
the  accounts  settled.  During  this  time  he  had  a 
salary  of  30,000  maravedis.  .  On  the  22d  of  March, 
1508,  he  received  the  appointment  of  principal  pilot, 
with  a  salary  of  70,000  maravedis.  His  chief  duties 
were  to  prepare  charts,  examine  pilots,  superintend 
the  fitting  out  of  expeditions,  and  prescribe  the  route 
that  vessels  were  to  pursue  in  their  voyages  to  the 
Now  World.  He  appears  to  have  remained  at  Se- 
ville, and  to  have  retained  this  office  until  his  death, 
on  the  2 2d  of  February,  1512.  His  widow,  Maria 
Corezo,  enjoyed  a  pension  of  10,000  maravedis.  Af- 
ter his  death,  his  nephew,  Juan  Vespucci,  was  nomi- 
nated pilot  with  a  salary  of  20,000  maravedis,  com- 
mencing on  the  2 2d  of  May,  1512.  Peter  Martyr 
speaks  with  high  commendation  of  this  young  man. 
"  Young  Vesputius  is  one  to  whom  Americus  Vespu- 
tius  his  uncle  left  the  exact  knowledge  of  the  mari- 
ner's faculties,  as  it  were  by  inheritance,  after  his 
death ;  for  he  was  a  very  expert  master  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  carde,  his  compasse,  and  the  elevation  of 
the  pole  starre  by  the  quadrant  Ves- 
putius is  my  very  familiar  friend,  and  a  wittie  young 
man,  in  whose  company  I  take  great  pleasure,  and 
therefore  use  him  oftentymes  for  my  guest.  He  hath 
also  made  many  voyages  into  these  coasts,  and  dili- 
gently noted  such  things  as  he  hath  seen."  ^ 

Vespucci,  the  nephew,  continued  in  this  situation 
during  the  life-time  of  Fonseca,  who  had  been  the 
patron  of  his  uncle  and  his  family.    He  was  divested 

1  Petei  Martyr  decad.  iii.  lib.  v.  Eden's  English  trans. 


APPENDIX. 


405 


Df  his  pay  and  his  employ  by  a  letter  of  the  coiinei) 
dated  the  18th  of  March,  1525,  shortly  after  the 
death  of  the  bishop.  No  further  notice  of  Vespucci 
Is  to  be  found  in  the  archives  of  the  Indies. 

Such  is  a  brief  view  of  the  career  of  Araerigft 
Vespucci  ;  it  remains  to  notice  the  points  of  contro* 
versy.  Shortly  after  his  return  from  his  last  expedi- 
tion to  the  Brazils,  he  wrote  a  letter  dated  Lisbon, 
4th  September,  1504,  containing  a  summary  account 
of  all  his  voyages.  This  letter  is  of  special  impor- 
tance to  the  matters  under  investigation,  as  it  is  the 
only  one  known  that  relates  to  the  disputed  voyage, 
which  would  establish  him  as  the  discoverer  of  Terra 
Firma.  It  is  presumed  to  have  been  written  in 
Latin,  and  was  addressed  to  Rene  Duke  ol  Lorraine, 
who  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Sicily  aud  Jerusa- 
lem. 

The  earliest  known  edition  of  this  letter  was  pub- 
lished in  Latin,  in  1507,  at  St.  Dlez  in  Lorraine.  A 
copy  of  it  has  been  found  in  the  library  of  the  Vat- 
ican (No.  9688)  by  the  Abbe  Cancellieri.  In  pre- 
paring the  present  illustration,  a  reprint  of  this  letter 
in  Latin  has  been  consulted,  inserted  in  the  Novus 
Orbis  of  GrinaBus,  published  at  Bath  in  1532.  The 
letter  contains  a  spirited  narrative  of  four  voyages 
which  he  asserts  to  have  made  to  the  New  World. 
In  the  prologue  he  excuses  the  liberty  of  addressing 
King  Rene  by  calling  to  his  recollection  the  ancient 
intimacy  of  their  youth,  when  studying  the  rudi- 
ments of  science  together,  under  the  paternal  uncle 
of  the  voyager  ;  and  adds  that  if  the  present  narra- 
tive should  not  altogether  please  his  Majesty,  he 
must  plead  to  him,  as  Pliny  saicl  to  Maecenas,  that  he 
ased  formerly  to  be  aunised  with  his  triflings. 

In  the  prologue  to  this  letter,  he  informs  King 
llene  that  affairs  of  commerce  had  brought  him  to 


406 


APPENDIX. 


Spain,  where  he  had  experienced  the  various  changes 
of  fortune  attendant  on  such  transactions,  and  was 
induced  to  abandon  that  pursuit  and  direct  his  la- 
bors to  objects  of  a  more  elevated  and  stable  nature. 
He  therefore  purposed  to  contemplate  various  parts 
of  the  world,  and  to  behold  the  marvels  which  it 
contains.  To  this  object  both  time  and  place  were 
favorable;  for  King  Ferdinand  was  then  preparing 
four  vessels  for  the  discovery  of  new  lands  in  the 
west,  and  appointed  him  among  the  number  of  those 
who  went  in  the  expedition.  "  We  departed,"  he 
adds,  "  from  the  port  of  Cadiz,  May  20,  1497,  taking 
our  course  on  the  great  gulf  of  ocean  ;  in  which 
voyage  we  employed  eighteen  months,  discovering 
many  lands  and  innumerable  islands,  'chiefly  inhab- 
ited, of  which  our  ancestors  make  no  mention." 

A  duplicate  of  this  letter  appears  to  have  been 
sent  at  the  same  time  (written,  it  is  said,  in  Italian) 
to  Piere  Soderini,  afterwards  Gonfalonier  of  Flor- 
ence, which  was  some  years  subsequently  published 
in  Italy,  not  earlier  than  1510,  and  entitled  "  Let- 
tera  de  Amerigo  Vespucci  delle  Isole  nuovamente 
trovate  in  quatro  suoi  viaggi."  We  have  consulted 
the  edition  of  this  letter  in  Italian,  inserted  in  the 
publication  of  Padre  Stanislaus  Canovai,  already  re- 
ferred to. 

It  has  been  suggested  by  an  Italian  writer,  that 
this  letter  was  written  by  Vespucci  to  Soderini  only, 
and  the  address  altered  to  King  Rene  through  the 
flattery  or  mistake  of  the  Lorraine  editor,  without 
perceiving  how  unsuitable  the  reference  to  former 
intimacy,  intended  for  Soderini,  was,  when  applied  to 
a  sovereign.  The  person  making  this  remark  can 
hardly  have  read  the  prologue  to  the  Latin  edition, 
m  which  the  title  of  "  your  majesty "  is  frequentlj? 
repeated,  and  the  term  "  illustrious  king  "  employed 


APPENDIX. 


407 


It  was  first  published  also  in  Lorraine,  the  domain? 
of  Kene,  and  the  publisher  would  not  probabl}'  have 
presumed  to  take  such  a  liberty  with  his  sovereign's 
name.  It  becomes  a  question,  whether  Vespucci  ad- 
dressed the  same  letter  to  King  Rene  and  to  Piere 
Soderini,  both  of  them  having  been  educated  with 
him,  or  whether  he  sent  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  So 
derini,  which  subsequently  found  its  way  into  print. 
The  address  to  Soderini  may  have  been  substituted 
through  mistake,  by  the  Italian  publisher.  Neither 
of  the  publications  could  have  been  made  under  the 
supervision  of  Vespucci. 

The  voyage  specified  in  this  letter  as  having 
taken  place  in  1497,  is  the  great  point  in  contro- 
versy. It  is  strenuously  asserted  that  no  such  voy- 
age took  place ;  and  that  the  first  expedition  of 
Vespucci  to  the  coast  of  Paria  was  in  the  enterprise 
commanded  by  Ojeda,  in  1499.  The  books  of  the 
armadas  existing  in  the  archives  of  the  Indies  a< 
Seville,  have  been  diligently  examined,  but  no  rec- 
ord of  such  voyage  has  been  (bund,  nor  any  official 
documents  relating  to  it.  Those  most  experienced 
in  Spanish  colonial  regulations  insist  that  no  com 
mand  like  that  pretended  by  Vespucci  could  have 
been  given  to  a  stranger,  till  he  had  first  received 
letters  of  naturalization  from  the  sovereigns  for  the 
kingdom  of  Castile,  and  he  did  not  obtain  such  till 
1505,  when  they  were  granted  to  him  as  preparatory 
to  giving  him  the  command  in  conjunction  with  Pin- 
zon. 

His  account  of  a  voyage  made  by  him  in  1497, 
therefore,  is  alleged  to  be  a  fabrication  for  the  pur- 
pose of  claiming  the  discovery  of  Paria ;  or  rather  it 
is  affirmed  that  he  has  divided  the  voyage  which  he 
actually  made  with  Ojeda,  in  1499,  into  two  ;  taking 
R  number  cf  incidents  from  his  real  voyage,  altering 


408 


APPENDIX. 


tham  a  little,  and  enlarging  them  with  descriptionsi 
of  the  countries  and  people,  so  as  to  make  a  plaus- 
ible narrative,  which  he  gives  as  a  distinct  voyage  ; 
and  antedating  his  departure  to  1497,  so  as  to  make 
himself  appear  the  first  discoverer  of  Paria. 

In  support  of  this  charge  various  coincidences 
liave  been  pointed  out  between  his  voyage  said  to 
have  taken  place  in  1497,  and  that  described  in  his 
first  letter  to  Lorenzo  de  Medici  in  1499.  These  co- 
incidences are  with  respect  to  places  visited,  transac- 
tions and  battles  with  the  natives,  and  the  number 
of  Indians  carried  to  Spain  and  sold  as  slaves. 

But  the  credibility  of  this  voyage  has  been  put  to 
a  stronger  test.  About  1503  a  suit  was  instituted 
against  the  crown  of  Spain  by  Don  Diego,  son  and 
heir  of  Columbus,  for  the  government  of  certain 
parts  of  Terra  Firma,  and  for  a  share  in  the  revenue 
arising  from  them,  conformably  to  the  capitulations 
made  between  the  sovereigns  and  his  father.  It  was 
the  object  of  the  crown  to  disprove  the  discovery  of 
the  coast  of  Paria  and  the  Pearl  Islands  by  Colum- 
bus ;  as  it  was  maintained,  that  unless  he  had  dis- 
covered them,  the  claim  of  his  heir  with  respect  to 
them  would  be  of  no  validity. 

In  the  course  of  this  suit,  a  particular  examination 
of  witnesses  took  place  in  1512-13  in  the  fiscal 
court.  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  and  nearly  a  hundred 
other  persons,  were  interrogated  on  oath  ;  that  voy- 
ager having  been  the  first  to  visit  the  coast  of  Paria 
after  Columbus  had  left  it,  and  that  within  a  very 
few  months.  The  interrogatories  of  these  witnesses, 
and  their  replies,  are  still  extant,  in  the  archives  of 
the  Indies  at  Seville,  in  a  packet  of  papers  entitled 
Papers  belonging  to  the  admiral  Don  Luis  Colon, 
about  the  conservation  of  his  privileges,  from  ann. 
1515  to  15G4."    The  author  of  the  present  work  hiia 


APPENDIX. 


409 


fcwo  several  copies  of  these  interrogator! e.^  lying  be- 
fore him.  One  made  by  the  late  historian  Munoz, 
and  the  other  made  in  1826,  and  signed  by  Don 
Jose  de  la  Higuera  y  Lara,  keeper  of  the  general 
archives  of  the  Indies  in  Seville.  In  the  course  of 
this  testimony,  the  fact  that  Amerigo  Yespucci  ac- 
companied Ojeda  in  this  voyage  of  1499,  appeara 
manifest,  first  from  the  deposition  of  Ojeda  himself. 
The  following  are  the  words  of  the  record  :  In  this 
voyage  which  this  said  witness  made,  he  took  with 
him  Juan  de  la  Cosa  and  Morego  Yespuche  [Amer 
igo  Yespucci]  and  other  pilots."  ^  Secondly ,  from 
the  coincidence  of  many  parts  of  "the  narrative  of 
Yespucci  with  events  in  this  voyage  of  Ojeda. 

Among  these  coincidences,  one  is  particularly 
striking.  Yespucci,  in  his  letter  to  Lorenzo  de 
Medici,  and  also  in  that  to  Rene  or  Soderini,  says, 
that  his  ships,  after  leaving  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma,  stopped  at  Hispaniola,  where  they  remained 
about  two  months  and  a  half,  procuring  provisions, 
during  which  time,  he  adds,  "  we  had  many  perils 
and  troubles  with  the  very  Christians  who  were  in 
that  island  with  Columbus,  and  I  believe  through 
envy."  2 

Now  it  is  well  known  that  Ojeda  passed  some 
time  on  the  western  end  of  the  island  victualing  his 
Ehips  ;  and  that  serious  dissensions  took  place  be- 

1  En  este  viage  que  este  diclio  testigo  hizo  triijo  consige 
a  .Iiian      la  Cosa,  piloto,  e  Morego  Vespuche,  e  otros  pilotos. 

2  Pel  la  necessita  del  mantenimento  fummo  all'  Isola 
d'  Astiglia  (Hispaniola)  che  e  questa  clie  descoperse  Cristo 
val  Cclombo  piu  anni  fa,  dove  facemmo  molto  mantenimento 
6  stemmo  due  mesi  e  17  giorni;  dove  passammo  moti  pericoli 
e  iravagli  con  11  medesimi  christiani  que  in  questa  isola  sta- 
va.'ano  col  Colombo  (credo  per  invidia).  Letter  of  Vesp-icd 
—  Edit,  of  Canovai. 


410 


APPENDIX, 


hveen  him  and  the  Spaniards  In  those  parts,  and  the 
party  sent  by  Columbus  under  Koldan  to  keep  a 
watch  upon  his  movements.  If  then  Vespucci,  as 
is  stated  upon  oath,  really  accompanied  Ojeda  in 
this  voyage,  the  inference  appears  almost  irresistible, 
that  he  h?  \  not  made  the  previous  voyage  of 
1497,  for  the  fact  would  have  been  well  known  to 
Ojeda  ;  he  would  have  considered  Vespucci  as'  the 
original  discoverer,  and  would  have  had  no  motive 
for  depriving  him  of  the  merit  of  it,  to  give  it  to 
Columbus,  with  whom  Ojeda  was  not  upon  friendly 
terms. 

Ojeda,  however,  expressly  declares  that  the  coast 
had  been  discovered  by  Columbus.  ,  On  being  asked 
how  he  knew  the  fact,  he  replied,  because  he  saw 
the  chart  of  the  country  discovered,  which  Columbus 
sent  at  the  time  to  the  king  and  queen,  and  that  he 
came  off  immediately  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and 
found  what  was  therein  set  dowri  as  discovered  by 
the  admiral  was  correct.-^ 

Another  witness,  Bernaldo  de  Haro,  states  that  he 
had  been  with  the  admiral,  and  had  written  (or 
rather  copied)  a  letter  for  the  admiral  to  the  king 
and  queen,  designating,  in  an  accompanying  sea- 
chart,  the  courses  and  steerings  and  winds  by  which 
he  had  arrived  at  Paria  ;  and  that  this  witness  had 
heard  that  from  this  chart  others  had  been  made, 
and  that  Pedro  Alonzo  Nino  and  Ojeda,  and  others, 

1  Preguntado  como  lo  sabe;  dijo  —  que  lo  sabe  porque  vi<5 
este  testigo  la  figura  que  el  dicho  Almirante  al  dicho  tiempo 
enibio  a  Castilla  al  Rey  e  Reyna,  nuestros  Sefiores,  de  lo  que 
habia  descubierto,  y  porque  este  testigo  luego  vino  a  de- 
scubrir  y  hallo  que  era  verdad  lo  que  dicho  tieiie  que  el  dicho 
Almirante  descubrio.  MS.  Process  of  D.  Diego  Colon 
preguuta  2. 


APPENDIX, 


411 


who  had  since  visited  these  countries,  had  been 
guided  by  the  same.-^ 

Francisco  de  Molares,  one  of  the  best  and  most 
credible  of  all  the  pilots,  testified  that  he  saw  a  sea- 
ohart  which  Columbus  had  made  of  the  coast  of  Paria, 
and  he  believed  that  all  governed  themselves  by  it.^ 

Numerous  witnesses  in  this  process  testify  to  the 
fact  that  Paria  was  first  discovered  by  Columbus. 
Las  Casas,  who  has  been  at  the  pains  of  counting 
them,  says  that  the  fact  was  established  by  twenty- 
five  eye-witnesses  and  sixty  ear-witnesses.  Many  of 
them  testify  also  that  the  coast  south  of  Paria,  and 
that  extending  west  of  the  Island  of  Margarita,  away 
to  Venezuela,  which  Vespucci  states  to  have  been 
discovered  by  himself  in  1497,  was  now  first  discov- 
ered by  Ojeda,  and  had  never  before  been  visited 
either  by  the  admiral  "  or  any  other  Christian  what- 
ever." 

Alonzo  Sanchez  de  Carvajal  says  that  all  the  voy- 
ages of  discovery  which  were  made  to  the  Terra 
Firma,  were  made  by  persons  who  had  sailed  with  th? 
admiral,  or  been  benefited  by  his  instructions  and 
directions,  following  the  course  he  had  laid  down ;  ^ 

1  Este  testigo  escrivio  una  carta  que  el  Almirante  escrivi- 
era  al  Rey  a  Reyna  N-  N.  S.  S.  haciendo  les  saber  las  perlas 
e  cosas  que  habia  hallado,  y  le  embio  sefialado  con  la  dicha 
carta,  en  una  carta  de  marear,  los  rumbos  y  vientos  por  donde 
habia  llegado  a  la  Paria,  e  que  este  testigo  oyo  decir  como 
pr.  aquella  carte  se  habian  hecho  otras  e  por  ellas  habian  ve- 
Dido  Pedro  Alonzo  Merino  [Nino]  e  Ojeda  e  otros  que  despuej 
bar.  ido  a  aquellas  partes.    Idem,  pregunta  9. 

^  Process  of  D.  Diego  Colon,  pregunta  10. 

3  Que  en  todos  los  viages  que  algunos  liicieron  descubri- 
endo  en  la  dicba  tierra,  ivan  personas  que  ovieron  navegado 
jon  el  dicho  Aim  rante,  y  a  ellos  mostro  muchas  cosas  da 
marear,  y  ellos  por  mitacion  d  industria  del  dicho  Almirante 


412 


APPENDIX. 


and  the  same  is  testified  by  many  other  pilots  and 
mariners  of  reputation  and  experience. 

It  would  be  a  singular  circumstance,  if  none  of 
these  witnesses,  many  of  whom  must  have  sailed  in 
the  same  squadron  with  Vespucci  along  this  coast  in 
1499,  should  have  known  that  he  had  discovered  and 
explored  it  two  years  previously.  If  that  had  really 
been  the  case,  what  motive  could  he  have  for  con- 
cealing the  fact  ?  and  why,  if  they  knew  it,  should 
they  not  proclaim  it  ?  Vespucci  states  his  voyage  in 
1497  to  have  been  made  with  four  caravels;  that 
they  returned  in  October,  1498,  and  that  he  sailed 
again  with  two  caravels  in  May,  1499  (the  date  of 
Ojeda's  departure).  Many  of  the  mariners  would 
therefore  have  been  present  in  both  voyages.  Why, 
too,  should  Ojeda  and  the  other  pilots  guide  them- 
selves by  the  charts  of  Columbus,  when  they  had  a 
man  on  board  so  learned  in  nautical  science,  and 
who,  from  his  own  recent  observations,  was  practi- 
cally acquainted  with  the  coast  ?  Not  a  word,  how- 
ever, is  mentioned  of  the  voyage  and  discovery  of 
Vespucci  by  any  of  the  pilots,  though  every  other 
voyage  and  discovery  is  cited ;  nor  does  there  even 
a  seaman  appear  who  has  accompanied  him  in  his 
asserted  voyage. 

Another  strong  circumstance  against  the  reality  of 
this  voyage  is,  that  it  was  not  brought  forward  in 
this  trial  to  defeat  the  claims  of  the  heirs  of  Colum- 
bus. Vespucci  states  the  voyage  to  have  been  un- 
dertaken with  the  knowledge  and  countenance  of 
King  Ferdinand  ;  it  must,  therefore,  have  been 
avowed  and  notorious.  Vespucci  was  living  at  Se- 
as aprerulian  y  aprendieron,  e  seguendo  ago.  que  el  dicho  AI 
mirante  les  habia  mostrado,  hicieron  los  viages  que  descubn* 
ron  en  la  Tierra  Firma.    Process,  pregunta  10. 


appi:ndix 


413 


ville  in  1508,  at  the  time  of  the  commencement  of 
this  suit,  and  for  four  years  afterward,  a  salaried  ser- 
vant of  the  crown.  Many  of  the  pilots  and  mari^ 
ners  must  have  been  at  hand,  who  sailed  with  him  in 
his  pretended  enterprise.  If  this  voyage  had  on(?e 
been  proved,  it  would  completely  have  settled  the 
question,  as  far  as  concerned  the  coast  of  Paria,  in 
favor  of  the  crown.  Yet  no  testimony  appears  ever 
to  have  been  taken  from  Vespucci  while  hving  ;  and 
when  the  interrogatories  were  made  in  the  fiscal 
court  in  1512-13,  not  one  of  his  seamen  is  brought 
up  to  give  evidence.  A  voyage  so  important  in  its 
nature,  and  so  essential  to  the  question  in  dispute,  is 
not  even  alluded  to,  while  useless  pains  are  taken  to 
wrest  evidence  from  the  voyage  of  Ojeda,  under- 
taken at  a  subsequent  period. 

It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  notice,  that  Ves- 
pucci commences  his  first  letter  to  Lorenzo  de  Medici 
in  1500,  within  a  month  after  his  return  from  the 
voyage  he  had  actually  made  to  Paria,  and  apologizes 
for  his  long  silence,  by  saying  that  nothing  had  oc- 
curred worthy  of  mention  (  e  gran  tempo  che  non 
ho  scritto  a  vostra  magnifizensa,  e  non  lo  ha  causato 
altra  cosa  ne  nessuna  salvo  non  mi  essere  occorso 
cosa  degna  di  memoria and  proceeds  eagerly  to 
tell  him  the  wonders  he  had  witnessed  in  the  expedi- 
tion from  which  he  had  but  just  returned.  It  would 
be  a  singular  forgetfulness  to  say  that  nothing  had 
occurred  of  importance,  if  he  had  made  a  previous 
voyage  of  eighteen  months  in  1497-8  to  this  newly 
discovered  world  ;  and  it  would  be  almost  equally 
«trange  that  he  should  not  make  the  slightest  allusion 
to  it  in  this  letter. 

It  has  been  the  endeavor  of  the  author  to  examine 
this  question  dispassionately ;  and  after  considering 
Ihe  statements  and  arguments  advanced  on  either 


414 


APP£.\  DIX. 


side,  he  cannot  resist  a  conviction,  that  the  voyage 
stated  to  have  been  made  in  1497  did  not  take  place, 
and  that  Yespacci  has  no  title  to  the  first  discovery 
of  the  coast  of  Pari  a. 

The  question  is  extremely  perplexing  from  the 
difficulty  of  assigning  sufficient  motives  for  so  gross  a 
deception.  When  Vespucci  wrote  his  letters  there 
was  no  doubt  entertained  but  that  Columbus  had  dis- 
covered the  main-land  in  his  first  voyage ;  Cuba 
being  always  considered  the  extremity  of  Asia,  until 
circumnavigated  in  1508.  Vespucci  may  have  sup- 
posed Brazil,  Paria,  and  the  rest  of  that  coast,  part 
of  a  distinct  continent,  and  have  been  anxious  to 
arrogate  to  himself  the  fame  of  its  discovery.  It  has 
been  asserted,  that,  on  his  return  from  his  voyage  to 
the  Brazils,  he  prepared  a  maritime  chart,  in  which 
he  gave  his  name  to  that  part  of  the  main-land  ;  but 
this  assertion  does  not  appear  to  be  well  substantiated. 
It  would  rather  seem  that  his  name  was  given  to 
that  part  of  the  continent  by  others,  as  a  tribute 
paid  to  his  supposed  merit,  in  consequence  of  having 
read  his  own  account  of  his  voyages. 

1  The  first  suggestion  of  the  name  appears  to  have  been  in 
the  Latin  work  already  cited,  pubhshed  in  St.  Diez,  in  Lor- 
raine, in  1507,  in  which  was  inserted  the  letter  of  Vespucci  to 
King  Ken^.  The  author,  after  speaking  of  the  other  three 
parts  of  the  world,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe,  recommend8 
that  the  fourth  shall  be  called  Amerigo,  or  America,  after 
Vespucci,  whom  he  imagined  its  discoverer. 

Note  to  the  Revised  EtUiiim^  1848.  —  Humboldt,  in  his  Ex- 
AMEN  Critique,  published  in  Paris,  in  1837,  says:  "I  have 
been  so  happy  as  to  discover,  very  recently,  the  name  and  the 
literary  relations  of  the  mysterious  personage  who  (in  1507) 
was  the  first  to  propose  the  name  of  America  to  designate  the 
new  continent,  and  who  concealed  himself  under  the  Gre- 
cianized  name  of  Hylacomylas."  He  then,  by  a  long  and 
imgenious  investigation,  shows  that  the  real  name  of  this 


APPENDIX. 


It  is  singular  that  Fernando,  the  son  of  Cohimbus, 
in  his  biography  of  his  father,  should  bring  no 
charge  against  Vespucci  of  endeavoring  to  supplant 
the  admiral  in  this  discovery.  Herrera  has  been 
cited  as  the  first  to  bring  the  accusation,  in  his  his- 
tory of  the  Indies,  first  published  in  1601,  and  has 
been  much  criticised  in  consequence,  by  the  advocates 
of  Vespucci,  as  making  the  charge  on  his  mere  as- 
Bertion.  But,  in  fact,  Plerrera  did  but  copy  what  he 
found  written  by  Las  Casas,  who  had  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  fiscal  court  lying  before  him,  and  was 
moved  to  indignation  against  Vespucci,  by  what  he 
considered  proofs  of  great  imposture. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  Vespucci  was  instigated 
to  this  deception  at  the  time  when  he  was  seeking 
employment  in  the  colonial  service  of  Spain  ;  and 
that  he  did  it  to  conciliate  the  Bishop  Fonseca,  who 
was  desirous  of  anything  that  might  injure  the  inter- 
ests of  Columbus.  In  corroboration  of  this  opinion, 
the  patronage  is  cited  which  was  ever  shown  by  Fon- 
seca to  Vespucci  and  his  family.  This  is  not,  how- 
ever, a  satisfactory  reason,  since  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  bishop  ever  made  any  use  of  the  fabrication. 
Perhaps  some  other  means  might  be  found  of  account- 
ing for  this  spurious  narration,  withoujb  implicating 
the  veracity  of  Vespucci.     It  may  have  been  the 

personage  was  Martin  Waldseemiiller,  of  Fribourg,  an  emi- 
nent cosmographer,  patronized  by  Ren ^,  Duke  of  Lorraine; 
who  no  doubt  put  in  his  hands  the  letter  received  by  him 
from  Amerigo  Vespucci.  The  geographical  works  of  Wald- 
geemiiller,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Hylacomylas,  had  a 
wide  circulation,  went  through  repeated  editions,  and  propa- 
gated the  use  of  the  name  America  throughout  the  world. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  application  of  the 
name  was  in  any  wise  suggested  by  Amerigo  Vespucci.  It 
appears  to  have  been  entirely  gratuitous  on  the  part  of  Wald- 
Beemiiller. 


416 


APPENDIX. 


blunder  of  some  editor,  or  the  interpolation  of  ^5omc* 
book-maker,  eager,  as  in  the  case  of  Trivigiani  with 
the  manuscripts  of  Peter  Martyr,  to  gather  together 
disjointed  materials,  and  fabricate  a  work  to  gratify 
the  prevalent  passion  of  the  day. 

In  the  various  editions  of  the  letters  of  Vespucci, 
the  grossest  variations  and  inconsistencies  in  dates 
will  be  found,  evidently  the  errors  of  hasty  and 
careless  publishers.  Several  of  these  have  been  cor- 
rected by  the  modern  authors  who  have  inserted 
these  letters  in  their  works.-"-  The  same  disregard  to 
exactness  which  led  to  these  blunders,  may  have 
produced  the  interpolation  of  this  voyage,  garbled 
out  of  the  letters  of  Vespucci  and  the  accounts  of 
other  voyagers.  This  is  merely  suggested  as  a  pos- 
sible mode  of  accounting  for  what  appears  so  deci- 
dedly to  be  a  fabrication,  yet  which  we  are  loath  to 
attribute  to  a  man  of  the  good  sense,  the  character, 
and  the  reputed  merit  of  Vespucci. 

After  all,  this  is  a  question  more  of  curiosity  than 
of  real  moment,  although  it  is  one  of  those  perplex- 
ing points  about  which  grave  men  will  continue  to 
write  weary  volumes,  until  the  subject  acquires  a 

1  An  instance  of  these  errors  may  be  cited  in  the  edition  of 
the  letter  of  Amerigo  Vespucci  to  King  Ren^,  inserted  by 
Griiiseus  in  his  Novus  Orbis,  in  1532.  In  this  Vespucci  ia 
made  to  state  that  he  sailed  from  Cadiz  May  20,  MCCCC- 
XCVII.  (1497,)  tliat  he  was  eighteen  months  absent,  and  re- 
turned to  Cadiz,  October  15,  MCCCCXCIX.  (1499,)  which 
would  constitute  an  absence  of  29  months.  He  states  his  de- 
parture from  Cadiz,  on  his  second  voyage,  Sunday,  jMaj'  11th, 
MCCCCLXXXIX.  (1489,)  which  would  have  made  his  sec- 
ond voyage  precede  his  first  by  eight  years.  If  we  substitute 
1499  for  1489,  the  departure  of  his  second  voyage  would 
etill  precede  his  return  from  his  first  by  five  months.  Cano- 
v^ai,  m  his  edition,  has  altered  the  date  of  the  first  return  U 
1498,  to  limit  the  voyage  to  eighteen  months. 


APPENDIX. 


417 


fictitious  Importance  from  the  mountain  of  contro- 
versy heaped  upon  it.  It  has  become  a  question 
of  local  pride  with  the  literati  of  Florence ;  and 
they  emulate  each  other  with  patriotic  zeal,  to  vindi- 
cate the  fame  of  their  distinguished  countryman. 
This  zeal  is  laudable  when  kept  within  proper  limits, 
but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  some  o.^  them  have  so 
far  been  heated  by  controversy  as  to  become  irasci- 
ble against  the  very  memory  of  Columbus,  and  to 
seek  to  disparage  his  general  fame,  as  if  the  ruin  of 
it  would  add  anything  to  the  reputation  of  Vespucci. 
This  is  discreditable  to  their  discernment  and  their 
liberality  ;  it  injures  their  cause,  and  shocks  the  feel- 
ings of  mankind,  who  will  not  willingly  see  a  name 
like  that  of  Columbus,  lightly  or  petulantly  assailed 
in  the  course  of  these  literary  contests.  It  is  a  name 
consecrated  in  history,  and  is  no  longer  the  property 
of  a  city,  or  a  state,  or  a  nation,  but  of  the  whole 
world. 

Neither  should  those  who  have  a  proper  sense  of 
the  merit  of  Columbus  put  any  part  of  his  great 
renown  at  issue  upon  this  minor  dispute.  Whether 
or  not  he  was  the  discoverer  of  Paria,  was  a  ques- 
tion of  interest  to  his  heirs,  as  a  share  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  revenues  of  that  country  depended 
upon  it ;  but  it  is  of  no  importance  to  his  fame.  In 
fact,  the  European  who  first  reached  the  main-land 
of  the  New  World  was  most  probably  Sebastian 
Cabot,  a  native  of  Venice,  sailing  in  the  employ  of 
England.  In  1497  he  coasted  its  shores  from  Labra- 
dor to  Florida ;  yet  the  English  have  never  set  up 
any  pretensions  on  his  account. 

'I'he  glory  of  Columbus  does  not  depend  upon  the 
parts  of  the  country  he  visited  or  the  extent  of  coast 
along  which  he  sailed;  it  embraces  the  discovery  of 
the  whole  western  world.     With  respect  to  hio*; 

VOL.  Ill  27 


418 


APPENDIX. 


Vespucci  IS  as  Yanez  Plnzon,  Bastides,  Ojeda,  Cabot, 
and  the  crowd  of  secondary  discoverers,  who  followed 
in  his  track,  and  explored  the  realms  to  which  he 
had  led  the  way.  When  Columbus  first  touched  a 
shore  of  the  New  World,  even  though  a  frontier 
island,  he  had  achieved  his  enterprises ;  he  had 
accomplished  all  that  was  necessary  to  his  fame : 
the  great  problem  of  the  ocean  was  solved ;  the 
world  which  lay  beyond  its  western  waters  was  dis- 
covered. 


No.  XL 

MARTIN  ALONZO  PINZON". 

In  the  course  of  the  trial  in  the  fiscal  court,  be- 
rween  Don  Diego  and  the  crown,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  depreciate  the  merit  of  Columbus,  and  to 
ascribe  the  success  of  the  great  enterprise  of  dis- 
covery to  the  intelligence  and  spirit  of  Martin 
Alonzo  Pinzon.  It  was  the  interest  of  the  crown  to 
do  so,  to  justify  itself  in  withholding  from  the  heir? 
of  Columbus  the  extent  of  his  stipulated  reward 
The  examinations  of  witnesses  in  this  trial  were 
made  at  various  times  and  places,  and  upon  a  set  of 
interrogatories  formally  drawn  up  by  order  of  the 
fiscal  They  took  place  upwards  of  twenty  years 
after  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus,  and  the  witnesses 
testified  from  recollection. 

In  reply  to  one  of  the  interrogatories.  Arias  Perea 
Pinzon,  son  of  Martin  Alonzo,  declared,  that,  being 
once  in  Rome  with  his  father  on  commercial  affairs, 
before  the  time  of  the  discovery,  they  had  frecjuent 
conversations  with  a  person  learned  in  cf«smography 
who  was  in  the  service  of  Pope  Innocent  VI II.,  and 


APPENDIX. 


419 


that  being  in  the  library  of  the  pope,  this  person 
showed  them  many  manuscripts,  from  one  of  which 
his  father  gathered  intimation  of  these  new  lands  ; 
for  there  was  a  passage  by  an  histori;>n  as  old  as  the 
time  of  Solomon,  which  said,  "  Navigate  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea  to  the  end  of  Spain  and  thence  to- 
ward the  setting  sun,  in  a  direction  between  north 
and  south,  until  ninety-five  degrees  of  longitude,  and 
you  will  find  the  land  of  Cipango,  fertile  and  abun- 
dant, and  equal  in  greatness  to  Africa  and  Europe." 
A  cop)'  of  this  writing,  he  added,  his  father  brought 
from  Rome  with  an  intention  of  going  in  search  of 
that  land,  and  frequently  expressed  such  determina- 
tion ;  and  that,  when  Columbus  came  to  Palos  with 
his  project  of  discovery,  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon 
showed  him  the  manuscript,  and  ultimately  gave  it 
to  him  just  before  they  sailed. 

It  is  extremely  probable  that  this  manuscript,  of 
which  Arias  Perez  gives  so  vague  an  account  fi'om 
recollection,  but  which  he  appears  to  think  the  main 
thing  that  prompted  Columbus  to  his  undertaking, 
was  no  other  than  the  work  of  Marco  Polo,  which, 
at  that  time,  existed  in  manuscript  in  most  of  the 
Italian  libraries.  Martin  Alonzo  was  evidently  ac- 
quainted with  the  work  of  the  Venetian,  and  it  would 
appear,  from  various  circumstances,  that  Columbus 
had  a  copy  of  it  with  him  in  his  voyages,  which  may 
have  been  the  manuscript  above  mentioned.  Co- 
lumbus had  long  before,  however,  had  a  knowledge 
•of  the  work,  if  not  by  actual  inspection,  at  least 
through  his  correspondence  with  Toscanelli  in  1474, 
^nd  had  derived  from  it  all  the  light  it  was  capable 
of  furnishing,  before  he  ever  came  to  Palos,  It  is 
questionable,  also,  whether  the  visit  of  Martin  Alonzo 
to  Rome,  was  not  after  his  mind  had  been  heated  by 
:j(mvei'sations  with  Columbus  in  the  convent  of  La 


120 


APPENDIX. 


Rablda.  The  testimony  of  Arias  Perez  is  so  worded 
as  to  leave  it  in  doubt  whether  the  visit  was  not  in 
the  very  year  prior  to  the  discovery :  "  Fue  el  dicho 
m  padre  a  Roma  aquel  dicho  aiio  antes  que  fuese  a 
descubrir."  Arias  Perez  always  mentions  the  manu* 
script  as  having  been  imparted  to  Columbus,  after  be 
had  come  to  Palos  with  an  intention  of  proceeding 
on  the  discovery. 

Certain  witnesses  who  were  examined  on  behalf 
of  the  crown,  and  to  whom  specific  interrogatories 
were  put,  asserted,  as  has  already  been  mentioned 
in  a  note  to  this  work,  that  had  it  not  been  for 
Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  and  his  brothers,  Columbus 
would  have  turned  back  for  Spain,  after  having  run 
seven  or  eight  hundred  leagues  ;  being  disheartened  at 
not  finding  land,  and  dismayed  by  the  mutiny  and 
menaces  of  his  crew.  This  is  stated  by  two  or  three 
as  from  personal  knowledge,  and  by  others  from  hear- 
say. It  is  said  especially  to  have  occurred  on  the  6th 
of  October.  On  this  day,  according  to  the  journal 
of  Columbus,  he  had  some  conversation  with  Martin 
Alonzo,  who  was  anxious  that  they  should  stand 
more  to  the  south-west.  The  admiral  refused  to  do 
BO,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  some  angry  words 
may  have  passed  between  them.  Various  disputes 
appear  to  have  taken  place  between  Columbus  and 
his  colleagues  respecting  their  route,  previous  to  the 
discovery  of  land ;  in  one  or  two  instances  he  ac- 
ceded to  their  wishes,  and  altered  his  course,  but  in 
roneral  he  was  inflexible  in  standing  to  the  west. 
The  Pinzons  also,  in  all  probability,  exerted  their 
influence  in  quelling  the  murmurs  of  their  townsmen 
and  encouraging  them  to  proceed,  when  ready  to 
rebel  against  Columbus.  These  circumstances  may 
have  become  mixed  up  in  the  vague  recollections  of 
the  seamen  who  gave  the  foregoing  extravagant  testi- 


APPENDIX, 


421 


mony,  and  who  were  evidently  disposed  to  exalt  the 
merits  of  the  ,Pinzons  at  the  expense  of  Columbus 
They  were  in  some  measure  prompted  also  in  their 
replies  by  the  written  interrogatories  put  by  order 
of  the  fiscal,  which  specified  the  conversations  said 
to  have  passed  between  Columbus  and  the  Pinzons, 
and  notwithstanding  these  guides  they  diflfered  widely 
in  their  statements,  and  ran  into  many  absurdities. 
In  a  manuscript  record  in  possession  of  the  Pinzon 
family,  I  have  even  read  the  assertion  of  an  old  sea* 
man,  that  Columbus,  in  his  eagerness  to  compel  the 
Pinzons  to  turn  back  to  Spain,  Jired  upon  their  ships, 
but,  they  continuing  on,  he  was  obliged  to  follow,  and 
within  two  days  afterwards  discovered  the  island  of 
Hispaniola. 

It  is  evident  the  old  sailor,  if  he  really  spoke 
conscientiously,  mingled  in  his  cloudy  remembrance 
the  disputes  in  the  early  part  of  the  voyage,  about 
altering  their  course  to  the  south-west,  and  the  de- 
sertion of  Martin  Alonzo,  subsequent  to  the  discovery 
of  the  Lucayos  and  Cuba,  when,  after  parting  com- 
pany with  the  admiral,  he  made  the  island  of  Hispan- 
iola. 

The  witness  most  to  be  depended  upon  as  to  these 
points  of  inquiry,  is  the  physician  of  Palos,  Garcia 
Fernandez,  a  man  of  education,  who  sailed  with 
Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  as  steward  of  his  ship,  and 
of  course  was  present  at  all  the  conversations  which 
passed  between  the  commanders.  He  testifies  that 
Martin  Alonzo  urged  Columbus  to  stand  more  to  the 
Bouth-west,  and  that  the  admiral  at  length  complied, 
Vut,  finding  no  land  in  that  direction,  they  turned  again 
to  the  west ;  a  statement  which  completely  coincides 
vith  the  journal  of  Columbus.  He  adds  that  the 
xdmiral  continually  comforted  and  animated  Martin 
41onzo,  and  all  others  in  his  company.  (Siempre 


122 


APPENDIX. 


los  consolaba  el  dicho  Almlrante  esforzandolo3  al 
diclio  Martin  Alonzo  e  a  todos  los  que  en  su  coin- 
pania  iban.)  AVhen  the  physician  was  specifically 
questioned  as  to  the  conversations  pretended  to  have 
passed  between  the  commanders,  in  which  Columbus 
expressed  a  desire  to  turn  back  to  Spain,  he  referred 
to  the  preceding  statement,  as  the  only  answer  he 
had  to  make  to  these  inlerrogatories. 

The  extravagant  testimony  before  mentioned  ap- 
pears never  to  have  had  any  weight  with  the  fiscal ; 
and  the  accurate  historian  Munoz,  who  extracted  all 
these  points  of  evidence  from  the  papers  of  the  law- 
suit, has  not  deemed  them  worthy  of  mention  in  his 
work.  As  these  matters,  however,  remain  on  record 
in  the  archives  of  the  Indies,  and  in  the  archives  of 
the  Pinzon  family,  in  both  of  which  I  have  had  a 
full  opportunity  of  inspecting  them,  I  have  thought 
it  advisable  to  make  these  few  observations  on  the 
subject ;  lest,  in  the  rage  for  research,  they  might 
hereafter  be  drawn  forth  as  a  new  discovery,  on  the 
strength  of  which  to  impugn  the  merits  of  Columbus. 


No.  XIL 

RUMOR  OF  THE  PILOT    SAID    TO    HAVE    DIED  IK 
THE  HOUSE    OF  COLUMBUS. 

Among  the  various  attempts  to  injure  Columbus 
by  those  who  were  envious  of  his  fame,  was  one  in- 
tended to  destroy  all  his  merit  as  an  original  discov- 
erer. It  was  said  that  he  had  received  information 
af  the  existence  of  land  in  the  western  parts  of 
;he  ocean  from  a  temp  est- tossed  pilot  who  had  been 


APPENDIX. 


423 


driven  tliere  by  violent  easterly  winds,  and  who,  oii 
Lis  return  to  Kurope,  had  died  in  tlie  house  of  Co- 
lumbus, leaving  in  his  possession  the  chart  and  journal 
of  his  voyage,  by  which  he  was  guided  to  his  dis- 
covery. 

This  story  was  first  noticed  by  Oviedo,  a  contem- 
porary of  Columbus,  in  his  history  of  the  Indies,  pub 
lished  in  1535.  He  mentions  it  as  a  rumor  circulat- 
ing among  the  vulgar,  without  foundation  in  truth. 

Fernando  Lopez  de  Gomara  first  brought  it  for- 
ward against  Columbus.  In  his  history  of  the  Indies, 
published  in  1552,  he  repeats  the  rumor  in  the 
vaguest  terms,  manifestly  from  Oviedo,  but  without 
the  contradiction  given  to  it  by  that  author.  He 
Bays  that  the  name  and  country  of  the  pilot  were 
unknown,  some  terming  him  an  Andalusian,  sailing 
between  the  Canaries  and  Madeira,  others  a  Biscay  an, 
trading  to  England  and  France  ;  and  others^  Portu- 
guese, voyaging  between  Lisbon  and  Mina,  on  the 
coast  of  Guinea.  He  expresses  equal  uncertainty 
whether  the  pilot  brought  the  caravel  to  Portugal,  to 
Madeira,  or  to  one  of  the  Azores.  The  only,  point  on 
which  the  circulators  of  the  rumor  agreed  was,  that 
he  died  in  the  house  of  Columbus.  Gomara  adds 
that  by  this  event  Columbus  was  led  to  undertake 
his  voyage  to  the  new  countries.^ 

The  other  early  historians  who  mention  Columbus 
and  his  voyages,  and  were  his  contemporaries,  viz.  : 
Sabellicus,  Peter  Martyr,  Giustiniani,  Bernaldes,  com- 
monly called  the  curate  of  Los  Palacios,  Las  Casas, 
^ ernando,  the  son  of  the  admiral,  and  the  anonymous 
author  of  a  voyage  of  Columbus,  translated  from  the 
Italian  into  Latin  by  Madrignano,'^  are  all  silent  in 
regard  to  this  report. 

1  Gomara,  Hist.  Ind.,  cap.  14. 

2  Navigatio  Christophori  Columbi,  Madrignano  Interpret©. 


424 


APPENDIX. 


BenzonI,  whose  history  of  the  New  World  was 
published  in  1565,  repeats  the  story  from  Goinara, 
with  whom  he  was  contemporary  ;  but  decidedly  ex- 
presses his  opinion,  that  Gomara  had  mingled  up 
much  falsehood  with  some  truth,  for  the  purpose  of 
detracting  from  the  fame  of  Columbus,  through  jeal- 
ousy that  any  one  but  a  Spaniard  should  enjoy  the 
honor  of  the  discovery.^ 

Acosta  notices  the  circumstance  slightly  in  his 
Natural  and  Moral  History  of  the  Indies,  published 
in  1591,  and  takes  it  evidently  from  Gomara.^ 

Mariana,  in  his  history  of  Spain,  published  m 
1592,  also  mentions  it  but  expresses  a  doubt  of  its 
truth,  and  derives  his  information  manifestly  from 
Gomara.^ 

Herrera,  who  published  his  history  of  the  Indies  in 
1601,  takes  no  notice  of  the  story.  In  not  noticing 
it,  he  m^y  be  considered  as  rejecting  it ;  for  he  is  dis- 
tinguished for  his  minuteness,  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  Gomara's  history,  which  he  expressly  contradicts 
on  a  point  of  considerable  interest.'* 

Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  a  native  of  Cusco  in  Peru, 
revived  the  tale  with  very  minute  particulars,  in  his 
Commentaries  of  the  Incas,  published  in  1609.  He 
tells  it  smoothly  and  circumstantially  ;  fixes  the  date 
of  the  occurrence  1484,  "  one  year  more  or  less ; " 

It  is  contained  in  a  collection  of  voyages  called  Novus  Orbia 
Kegionum,  edition  of  1555,  but  was  originally  published  in 
Italian  as  written  by  Montalbodo  Francanzano  (or  Francapano 
de  Montaldo),  in  a  collection  of  voyages  entitled  Nuovo  Mun- 
do,  in  Vicenza,  1507. 

1  Girolamo  Benzoni,  Hist,  del  Nuevo  Mundo,  lib.  i.  fo.  1% 
In  Venetia,  1572. 

2  Padre  Joseph  de  Acosta,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  i.  cap.  19. 

3  Juan  de  Mariana,  Hist.  Espana,  lib.  xxvi.  cap,  3. 
*  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  ii.  lib.  iii.  cap.  i 


APPENDIX. 


425 


Itaies  the  name  of  the  unfortunate  pilot,  Alonzo  San- 
chez de  Huelva  ;  the  destination  of  his  vessel,  from 
the  Canaries  to  Madeira  ;  and  the  unknown  land  to 
which  they  were  driven,  the  island  of  Hispaniola. 
The  pilot,  he  says,  landed,  took  an  altitude,  and  wrote 
an  account  of  all  he  saw,  and  all  that  had  occurred 
in  the  voyage.  He  then  took  in  wood  and  water, 
and  set  out  to  seek  his  way  home.  He  succeeded  in 
returning,  but  the  voyage  was  long  and  tempestuous, 
and  twelve  died  of  hunger  and  fatigue,  out  of  seven- 
teen, the  original  number  of  the  crew.  The  five  sur- 
vivors arrived  at  Tercera,  where  they  were  hospitably 
entertained  by  Columbus,  but  all  died  in  his  house  in 
consequence  of  the  hardships  they  had  sustained ; 
the  pilot  was  the  last  that  died,  leaving  his  host  heir 
to  his  papers.  Columbus  kept  them  profoundly  se- 
cret, and  by  pursuing  the  route  therein  prescribed, 
obtained  the  credit  of  discovering  the  New  World. 

Such  are  the  material  points  of  the  circumstantial 
relation  furnished  by  Garcilaso  de  la  Yega,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  after  the  event.  In  regard  to 
authority,  he  recollects  to  have  heard  the  story  w^hen 
he  was  a  child,  as  a  subject  of  conversation  between 
his  father  and  the  neighbors,  and  he  refers  to  the  his- 
tories of  the  Indies,  by  Acosta  and  Gomara,  for  con- 
firmation. As  the  conversations  to  which  he  listened, 
must  have  taken  place  sixty  or  seventy  years  after 
the  date  of  the  report,  there  had  been  sufficient  time 
for  the  vague  rumors  to  become  arranged  into  a 
regular  narrative,  and  thus  we  have  not  only  the 
lame,  country,  and  destination  of  the  pilot,  but  also 
the  name  of  the  unknown  land  to  which  his  vessel 
was  driven. 

This  account  given  by  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  has 
been  adopted  by  many  old  historians,  who  have  felt 
1  Commentarios  de  los  Incas,  lib.  i-  cap.  3. 


42G 


APPENDIX, 


a  confidence  in  the  peremptory  manner  in  wliich  he 
relates  it,  and  in  the  authorities  to  whom  he  refers.^ 
These  have  been  echoed  by  others  of  more  recent 
date  ;  and  thus  a  weighty  charge  of  fraud  and  im- 
posture has  been  accumulated  against  Columbus, 
apparently  supported  by  a  crowd  of  respectable  ac- 
cusers. The  whole  charge  is  to  be  traced  to  Gomara, 
who  loosely  repeated  a  vague  rumor,  without  noticing 
the  pointed  contradiction  given  to  it  seventeen  years 
before,  by  Oviedo,  an  ear-witness,  from  whose  book 
he  appears  to  have  actually  gathered  the  report. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  Gomara  bears  the  char- 
acter, among  historians,  of  inaccuracy,  and  of  great 
credulity  in  adopting  unfounded  stories.^ 

1  Names  of  historians  who  either  adopted  this  story  in  de- 
tail, or  the  charge  against  Cohimbus,  drawn  from  it. 

Bernardo  Aldrete,  Antiguedad  de  Espaiia,  lib.  iv.  cap.  17. 
p.  567. 

Roderigo  Caro,  Antiguedad,  lib.  iii.  cap.  76. 
Juan  de  Solorzano,  Ind.  Jure,  tom.  1.  lib.  i.  cap.  5. 
Fernando  Pizarro,  Varones  Illust.  del  Nuevo  Mundo,  cap.  2. 
Agostino  Torniel,  Annal.  Sacr.,  tom.  i.  ann.  Mund.,  1931, 
No.  48. 

Pet.  Damarez  or  De  Mariz,  Dial.  iv.  de  Yar.  Hist ,  cap.  4. 
Gregorio  Garcia,  Orig.  de  los  Indios,  lib.  i.  cap.  4,  §  1. 
Juan  de  Torquemanda,  Monarch,  Tnd.,  lib.  xviii.  cap.  1. 
John  Baptiste  Riccioli,  Geograf.  Reform  ,  lib.  iii. 

1  o  this  list  of  old  authors  may  be  added  many  c-hers  of 
more  recent  date. 

2  "  Francisco  Lopez  de  Gomara,  Presbitero,  Sevillano,  es- 
^ribio  con  elegante  estilo  acerca  de  las  cosas  de  las  Indies,  pero 
dexandose  llevar  de  falsas  narraciones."  Hijos  de  Sevilla, 
Kumero  ii.  p.  42,  Let.  F.  The  same  is  stated  in  Bibhotheca 
Hispana  Nova,  lib.  i  p.  437. 

"  El  Francisco  Lopez  de  Gomara  escrivio  tantos  bcrrones  d 
cosas  que  no  son  verdaderas,  de  que  ha  hecho  mucho  dano  a 
muchos  escri tores  e  coronistas,  que  despues  del  Gomara  haa 
escrito  en  las  cosas  de  la  Nueva  Espafia   .    .    .    es  porque 


APPENDIX. 


427 


It  IS  unnecessary  to  give  further  refutation  to  this 
charge,  especially  as  it  is  clear  that  Columbus  com- 
municated his  idea  of  discovery  to  Paulo  Toscanelli 
of  Florence,  in  1474,  ten  years  previous  to  the  date 
assigned  by  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  for  this  occurrence. 


No.  XIIL 

MARTIN  BEHEM. 

This  able  geographer  was  born  in  Nuremburg,  \u 
Germany,  about  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1430.  His  ancestors  were  from  the  circle  of  Pilsner, 
in  Bohemia,  hence  he  is  called  by  some  writers  Mar- 
tin of  Bohemia,  and  the  resemblance  of  his  own 
name  to  that  of  the  country  of  his  ancestors  fre- 
quently occasions  a  confusion  in  the  appellation. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  that  he  studied  under 
Philip  Bervalde  the  elder,  and  by  others  under  John 
Muller,  otherwise  called  Regiomontanus,  though  De 
Murr,  who  has  made  diligent  inquiry  into  his  history, 
discredits  both  assertions.  According  to  a  corres- 
pondence between  Behem  and  his  uncle,  discovered 
of  late  years  by  De  Murr,  it  appears  that  the  early 
part  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  commerce.  Som<? 
have  given  him  the  credit  of  discovering  the  island 
of  Fayal,  but  this  is  an  error,  arising  probably  from 

les  ha  hecho  errar  el  Gomara."  Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo, 
Hist,  de  la  Conquest  de  la  Nueva  Espaila,  Fin  de  cap.  18. 

"  Tenia  Gomara  doctrina  y  estilo  .  .  .  pero  empleose 
en  ordinar  sin  discernimiento  lo  que  hallo  escrito  por  sus  an- 
tecesores,  y^dio  credito  a  petranas  no  solo  falsas  sino  inveri* 
similes."  Juan  Bautista  Munoz,  Hist.  N.  Mundo,  Prolof^o, 
».  18. 


428 


APPENDIX. 


the  cii>^iimstance  that  Job  de  Huertar,  fathtr-in-law 
of  Behem,  c(  ionized  that  island  in  1466. 

He  is  supposed  to  have  arrived  at  Portugal  in 
1481,  while  Alphonso  V.  was  still  on  the  throne;  it  is 
certain  that  shortly  afterwards  he  was  in  high  repute 
for  his  science  in  the  court  of  Lisbon,  insomuch  that 
he  was  one  of  the  council  appointed  by  King  John  II. 
to  improve  the  art  of  navigation,  and  by  some  he  has 
received  the  whole  credit  of  the  memorable  service 
rendered  to  commerce  by  that  council,  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  astrolabe  into  nautical  use. 

In  1484  King  John  sent  an  expedition  under  Diego 
Cam,  as  Barros  calls  him,  Cano  according  to  others, 
to  prosecute  discoveries  along  the  coast  of  Africa. 
In  this  expedition  Behem  sailed  as  cosmographer. 
They  crossed  the  equinoctial  line,  discovered  the 
coast  of  Congo,  advanced  to  twenty-two  degrees  forty- 
five  minutes  of  south  latitude,^  and  erected  two 
columns,  on  which  were  engraved  the  arms  of  Portu- 
gal, in  the  mouth  of  the  river  Zagra,  in  Africa,  which 
thence,  for  some  time,  took  the  name  of  the  River  of 
Columns.*^ 

For  the  services  rendered  on  this  and  on  previous 
occasions,  it  is  said  that  Behem  was  knighted  by 
King  John  in  1485,  though  no  mention  is  made  of 
such  a  circumstance  in  any  of  the  contemporary  his- 
torians. The  principal  proof  of  his  having  received 
this  mark  of  distinction,  is  his  having  given  himself 
the  title  on  his  own  globe  of  Eques  Lusitanus. 

In  1486  he  married  at  Fayal  the  daughter  of  Job 
de  Huertar,  and  is  supposed  to  have  remained  there 
for  some  few  years,  where  he  had  a  son  named  far- 
tin,  born  in  1489.  During  his  residence  at  Lishon 
and  Fayal,  it  is  probable  the  acquaintance  took  p.*  ie« 

1  Vasconcelos,  lib.  4.  * 

2  Murr.  Notice  sur  M.  Behaim. 


APPENDIX, 


423 


between  him  and  Columbus,  to  which  Herrera  and 
otliers  allude ;  and  the  admiral  may  have  heard  from 
him  some  of  the  rumors  circulating  in  the  islands,  of 
indications  of  western  lands  floating  to  their  shores. 

In  1491  he  returned  to  Nuremburg  to  see  his  fam- 
dy,  and  while  there,  in  1492,  he  finished  a  terrestrial 
globe,  considered  a  masterpiece  in  those  days,  which 
he  had  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the  principal 
magistrates  of  his  native  city. 

In  1493  he  returned  to  Portugal,  and  from  thence 
proceeded  to  Fayal. 

In  1494  King  John  II.,  v^ho  had  a  high  opinion  of 
him,  sent  him  to  Flanders  to  his  natu)'al  son  Prince 
George,  the  intended  heir  of  his  Ct'own.  In  the 
course  of  his  voyage  Behem  was  capt/ured  and  car- 
ried to  England,  where  he  remained  for  three  months 
detained  by  illness.  Having  recovered,  he  again  put 
to  sea,  but  was  captured  by  a  corsair  and  carried  to 
France.  Having  ransomed  himself,  he  proceeded  to 
Antwerp  and  Bruges,  but  returned  almost  immedi- 
ately to  Portugal.  Nothing  more  is  known  of  him 
for  several  years,  during  which  time  it  is  supposed  he 
remained  with  his  family  in  Fayal,  too  old  to  make 
further  voyages.  In  1506  he  went  from  Fayal  to 
Lisbon,  where  he  died. 

The  assertion  that  Behem  had  discovered  the 
western  world  previous  to  Columbus,  in  the  course  of 
the  voyage  with  Cam,  was  founded  on  a  misinterpre- 
tation of  a  passage  interpolated  in  the  chronicle  of 
Hartmann  Schedel,  a  contemporary  writer.  This 
passage  mentions,  that  when  the  voyagers  were  in 
the  Southern  Ocean  not  far  from  the  coast,  and  had 
passed  the  line,  they  came  into  another  hemisphere, 
where,  when  they  looked  towards  the  east,  their 
shadows  fell  towards  the  south,  on  their  right  hand 
*hat  here  they  discovered  a  new  world,  unknown  un« 


430 


APPENDIX. 


til  then,  and  which  for  many  years  had  never  been 
sought  except  by  the  Genoese,  and  by  them  unsuc- 
cessfully. 

"Hi  duo,  bono  deorum  auspicio,  mare  meridionale 
Bulcantes,  a  littore  non  longo  evagantes,  superato  cir- 
culo  equinoctial!,  in  altcrum  orbem  excepti  sunt. 
Ubi  ipsis  stantibus  orientem  versus,  umbra  ad  meri- 
diem et  dextram  projiciebatur.  Aperuere  igitur  sua 
industria,  alium  orbem  hactenus  nobis  incognitum  et 
raultis  annis,  a  nullis  quam  Januensibus,  licet  frustra 
temptatum." 

These  lines  are  part  of  a  passage  which  it  is  said 
is  interpolated  by  a  different  hand,  in  the  original 
manuscript  of  the  chronicle  of  Schedel.  De  Murr 
assures  us  that  they  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  Ger- 
man translation  of  the  book  by  George  Alt,  which 
was  finished  the  5th  October,  1498,  But  even  if 
they  were,  they  relate  merely  to  the  discovery  which 
Diego  Cam  made  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  pre- 
viously unknown,  and  of  the  coast  of  Africa  beyond 
the  equator,  all  which  appeared  like  a  new  world, 
and  as  such  was  talked  of  at  the  time. 

The  Genoese  alluded  to,  who  had  made,  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt,  were  Antonio  de  Nolle  with  Bartho- 
lomeo  his  brother,  and  Raphael  de  Nolie  his  nephew. 
Antonio  was  of  a  noble  family,  and,  for  some  disgust^ 
left  his  country  and  went  to  Lisbon  with  hi.s  before- 
mentioned  relatives  in  two  caravels ;  sailing  whence 
in  the  employ  of  Portugal,  they  discovered  the 
island  of  St.  Jago,  &c.-^ 

This  interpolated  passage  of  Schedel  was  lik^^.wise 
'nserted  into  the  work  De  Europa  sub  Frederico  Til., 
of  uEneas  Sllvius,  afterwards  Pope  Pius  II.,  who  di-^d 
in  1464,  long  before  the  voyage  in  question.  Tl^e 
misinterpretation  of  the  passage  first  gave  rise  to  tl»«J 
1  Barros,  decad.  i.  lib.  ii.  cap.  1.    Lisbon,  1852. 


APPENDIX. 


incorrect  assertion  that  Eehem  had  discovered  the 
New  World  prior  to  Columbus  ;  as  if  it  were  possi- 
ble such  a  circumstance  could  have  happened  ivith- 
out  Behem's  laying  claim  to  the  glory  of  the  dis- 
covery, and  without  the  world  immediately  resounding 
with  so  important  an  event.  This  error  had  been 
adopted  by  various  authors  without  due  examination ; 
Bome  of  whom  had  likewise  taken  from  Magellan  the 
credit  of  having  discovered  the  strait  which  goes  by 
his  name,  and  had  given  it  to  Behem.  The  error 
was  too  palpable  to  be  generally  prevalent,  but  was 
suddenly  revived  in  the  year  1786,  by  a  French 
gentleman  of  highly  respectable  character  of  the 
name  of  Otto,  then  resident  in  New  York,  who  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Dr.  Franklin  to  be  submitted  to 
the  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  in  which 
he  undertook  to  establish  the  title  of  Behem  to  the 
discovery  of  the  New  World.  His  memoir  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Trajnsactions  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  vol.  ii.,  for  1786,  article  No.  35,  and 
has  been  copied  into  the  journals  of  most  of  the  na- 
tions of  Europe. 

The  authorities  cited  by  M.  Otto  in  support  of  his 
assertion  are  generally  fallacious,  and  for  the  most 
part  given  without  particular  specification.  His  as- 
sertion has  been  diligently  and  satisfactorily  refuted 
by  Don  Christoval  Cladera.^ 

The  grand  proof  of  M.  Otto  is  a  globe  which  Be- 
hem made  during  his  residence  in  Nuremburg,  in 
1492,  the  very  year  that  Columbus  set  out  on  his 
first  voyage  of  discovery.  This  globe,  according  to 
M.  Otto,  is  still  preserved  in  the  library  of  Nurem- 
burg, and  on  it  are  painted  all  the  discoveries  of  Be- 
hem, which  are  so  situated  that  they  can  be  no  other 
than  the  coast  of  Brazil,  and  the  straits  of  Magellan 
1  inv3stigaciones  Historicas.    Madrid,  1794. 


432 


APPENDIX. 


This  authority  staggered  many,  and,  if  supported, 
would  demolish  the  claims  of  Columbus. 

Unluckily  for  M.  Otto,  in  his  description  of  the 
globe,  he  depended  on  the  inspection  of  a  corres- 
pondent. The  globe  in  the  library  of  Nuremburg 
was  made  in  1520,  by  John  Schoener,  professor  of 
mathematics,-^  long  after  the  discoveries  and  death  of 
Columbus  and  Behem.  The  real  globe  of  Behern, 
made  in  1492,  does  not  contain  any  of  the  islands  or 
shores  of  the  New  World,  and  thus  proves  that  he 
was  totally  unacquainted  with  them.  A  copy,  or 
planisphere,  of  Behem's  globe  is  given  by  Ciadera 
in  his  investigations. 


No.  XIV. 

VOYAGES  OF    THE  SCANDINAVIANS, 

Many  elaborate  dissertations  have  been  written  to 
prove  that  discoveries  were  made  by  the  Scandina- 
vians on  the  northern  coast  of  America  long  before 
(he  era  of  Columbus ;  but  the  subject  appears  still 
to  be  wrapped  in  much  doubt  and  obscurity. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Norwegians,  as  early 
as  the  ninth  century,  discovered  a  great  tract  of  land 
to  the  west  of  Iceland,  which  they  called  Grand  Ice- 
land; but  this  has  been  pronounced  a  fabulous  tradi- 
tion. The  most  plausible  account  is  one  given  by 
Snorro  Sturleson,  in  his  Saga  or  Chronicle  of  King 
Glaus.  According  to  this  writer,  one  Biorn  of  Ice 
land  sailing  to  Greenland  in  search  of  his  father, 
from  whom  he  had  been  separated  by  a  storm,  wa« 
1  Ciadera,  Investig.  Hist.  p.  115 


APPENDIX. 


433 


drivei.  by  tempestuous  weather  far  to  the  south-west, 
until  he  came  in  sight  of  a  low  country,  covered 
with  wood,  with  an  island  in  its  vicinity.  The 
weather  becoming  favorable,  he  turned  to  the  north- 
east without  landing,  and  arrived  safe  at  Greenland. 
His  account  of  the  country  he  had  beheld,  it  is  said, 
excited  the  enterprise  of  Leif,  son  of  Eric  Rauda 
(or  Redhead),  the  first  settler  of  Greenland.  A  ves- 
sel was  fitted  out,  and  Leif  and  Biorn  departed  alone 
in  quest  of  this  unknown  land.  They  found  a  rocky 
and  sterile  island,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Helleland  ;  also  a  low  sandy  country  covered  with 
wood,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Markland ; 
and,  two  days  afterwards,  they  observed  a  continu- 
ance of  the  coast,  with  an  island  to  the  north  of  it. 
This  last  they  described  as  fertile,  well  wooded,  pro- 
ducing agreeable  fruits,  and  particularly  grapes,  a 
fruit  with  which  they  were  unacquainted.  On  being 
informed  by  one  of  their  companions,  a  German,  of 
its  qualities  and  name,  they  called  the  country,  from 
it,  Vinland.  They  ascended  a  river,  well  stored  with 
fish,  particularly  salmon,  and  came  to  a  lake  from 
which  the  river  took  its  origin,  where  they  passed  the 
winter.  The  climate  appeared  to  them  mild  and 
pleasant ;  being  accustomed  to  the  rigorous  climates 
of  the  north.  On  the  shortest  day,  the  sun  was 
eight  hours  above  the  horizon.  Hence  it  has  been 
concluded  that  the  country  was  about  the  49th  de- 
gree of  north  latitude,  and  was  either  Newfoundland, 
or  some  part  of  the  coast  of  North  America,  about 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.^  It  is  added  that  the 
relatives  of  Leif  made  several  voyages  to  Yinland  ; 
that  they  traded  with  the  natives  for  furs  ;  and  that, 
in  1121,  a  bishop  named  Eric  went  from  Greenland 
to  Vinland  to  convert  the  inhabitants  to  Christianity 

1  Forster's  Northern  Voyages,  book  ii.  chap.  2. 
VOL.  111.  2S 


APPENDIX, 


From  this  time,  says  Forster,  we  know  nothing  of 
Vinland,  and  there  is  every  appearance  that  the 
tribe  which  still  exists  in  the  interior  of  iSfewfound- 
land,  and  which  is  so  different  from  the  other  savages 
of  North  America,  both  in  their  appearance  and 
mode  of  living,  and  always  in  a  state  of  warfare  witb 
the  Esquimaux  of  the  northern  coast,  are  descend- 
ants of  the  ancient  Normans. 

The  author  of  the  present  work  has  not  had  the 
means  of  tracing  this  story  to  its  original  sources. 
He  gives  it  on  the  authority  of  M.  Malte-Brun,  and 
Mr.  Forster.  The  latter  extracts  it  from  the  Saga 
or  Chronicle  of  Snorro,  who  was  born  in  1179,  and 
wrote  in  1215  ;  so  that  his  account  was  formed  long 
after  the.  event  is  said  to  have  taken  place.  Forster 
says,  "  the  facts  which  we  report  have  been  collected 
from  a  great  number  of  Icelandic  manuscripts,  and 
transmitted  to  us  by  Torfseus  in  his  two  works  en- 
titled Veteris  Groenlandiae  Descriptio,  Hafnia,  1706, 
and  Historia  Winlandiae  Antiquae,  Hafnia,  1705.'* 
Forster  appears  to  have  no  doubt  of  the  authenticity 
of  the  facts.  As  far  as  the  author  of  the  present 
work  has  had  experience  in  tracing  these  stories  of 
early  discoveries  of  portions  of  the  New  World,  he 
has  generally  found  them  very  confident  deductions 
drawn  from  very  vague  and  questionable  facts. 
Learned  men  are  too  prone  to  give  substance  to 
mere  shadows,  when  they  assist  eome  preconceived 
theory.  Most  of  these  accounts,  when  divested  of 
the  erudite  comments  of  their  editors,  have  proved 
little  better  than  the  traditionary  fables,  noticed  in 
another  part  of  this  work,  respecting  the  imaginary 
islands  of  St.  Borondon,  and  of  the  Seven  Cities. 

There  is  no  great  improbability,  however,  that 
Buch  enterprising  and  roving  voyagers  as  the  Scan- 
dinavians, may  have  wandered  to  the  northern  shores 


APPENDIX. 


435 


of  America,  about  the  coast  of  Labrador,  or  the 
shores  of  Newfoundland  ;  and  if  the  Icelandic  man- 
uscripts said  to  be  of  the  thirteenth  century  can  be 
relied  upon  as  genuine,  free  from  modern  interpola- 
tion, and  correctly  quoted,  they  would  appear  to 
prove  the  fact.  But  granting  the  truth  of  the  alleged 
discoveries,  they  led  to  no  more  result  than  would 
the  interchange  of  communication  between  the  na- 
tives of  Greenland  and  the  Esquimaux.  The  knowl- 
edge of  them  appears  not  to  have  extended  beyond 
their  own  nation,  and  to  have  been  soon  neglected 
and  forgotten  by  themselves. 

Another  pretension  to  an  early  discovery  of  the 
American  continent  has  been  set  up,  founded  on  an 
alleged  map  and  narrative  of  two  brothers  of  the 
name  of  Zeno,  of  Venice  ;  but  it  seems  more  invalid 
than  those  just  mentioned.  The  following  is  the 
substance  of  this  claim. 

Nicolo  Zeno,  a  noble  Venetian,  is  said  to  have 
made  a  voyage  to  the  north  in  1380,  in  a  vessel  fitted 
out  at  his  own  cost,  intending  to  visit  England  and 
Flanders  ;  but  meeting  with  a  terrible  tempest,  was 
driven  for  many  days  he  knew  not  whither,  until  he 
was  cast  away  upon  Friseland,  an  island  much  in  dis- 
pute among  geographers,  but  supposed  to  be  the 
archipelago  of  the  Ferroe  Islands.  The  shipwrecked 
voyagers  were  assailed  by  the  natives ;  but  rescued 
by  Zichmni,  a  prince  of  the  islands,  lying  on  the 
Bouth  side  of  Friseland,  and  duke  of  another  district 
lying  over  against  Scotland.  Zeno  entered  into  the 
service  of  this  prince,  and  aided  him  in  conquering 
Friseland,  and  other  northern  islands.  He  was  soon 
Joined  by  his  brother  Antonio  Zeno,  who  remained 
fourteen  years  in  those  countries. 

During  his  residence  in  Friseland,  Antonio  Zeno 
wrote  to  his  brother  Carlo,  in  Venice,  giving  an  ac- 


436 


APPENDIX. 


count  of  a  report  brought  by  a  certain  fisherman, 
about  a  land  to  the  westward.  According  to  the 
tale  of  this  mariner,  he  had  been  one  of  a  party  who 
Balled  from  Friseland  about  twenty -six  years  before, 
in  four  fishing-boats.  Being  overtaken  by  a  mighty 
tempest,  they  were  driven  about  the  sea  for  many 
days,  until  the  boat  containing  himself  and  six  com- 
panions was  cast  upon  an  island  called  Estotiland. 
about  one  thousand  miles  from  Friseland.  They 
were  taken  by  the  inhabitants,  and  carried  to  a  fair 
and  populous  city,  where  the  king  sent  for  many  in- 
terpreters to  converse  with  them  but  none  that  they 
could  understand,  until  a  man  was  found  who  had 
likewise  been  cast  away  upon  the  coast,  and  who 
spoke  Latin.  They  remained  several  days  upon  the 
island,  which  was  rich  and  fruitful,  abounding  with 
all  kinds  of  metals,  and  especially  gold.-^  There 
was  a  high  mountain  in  the  centre,  from  which 
flowed  four  rivers  which  watered  the  whole  country. 
The  inhabitants  were  intelligent  and  acquainted  with 
the  mechanical  arts  of  Europe.  They  cultivated 
grain,  made  beer,  and  lived  in  houses  built  of  stone. 
There  were  Latin  books  in  the  king's  library,  though 
the  inhabitants  had  no  knowledge  of  that  language. 
They  had  many  cities  and  castles,  and  carried  on  a 
trade  with  Greenland  for  pitch,  sulphur  and  peltry. 
Though  much  given  to  navigation,  they  were  igno- 
rant of  the  use  of  the  compass,  and  finding  the 
Friselanders  acquainted  with  it,  held  them  in  great 
esteem  ;  and  the  king  sent  them  with  twelve  barks 
to  visit  a  country  to  the  south,  called  Drogeo.  They 
had  neai'ly  perished  in  a  storm,  but  were  cast  away 

1  This  account  is  taken  from  Hackluyt,  vol.  iii.  p-  123. 
The  passage  about  gold  and  other  metals  is  not  to  be  found 
in  the  original  Italian  of  Ramusio  (torn.  ii.  p.  23),  and  ii 
probably  an  interpolation. 


APPENDIX. 


437 


npon  tlie  coast  of  Drogeo.  They  found  the  people 
to  be  cannibals,  and  were  on  the  point  of  being 
killed  and  devoured,  but  were  spared  on  account  of 
their  great  skill  in  fishing. 

The  fishermen  described  this  Drogeo  as  being  a 
country  of  vast  extent,  or  rather  a  new  world ;  that 
the  inhabitants  were  naked  and  barbarous;  but  that 
far  to  the  south-west  there  was  a  more  civilized  re- 
gion, and  temperate  climate,  where  the  inhabitants 
had  a  knowledge  of  gold  and  silver,  lived  in  cities, 
erected  splendid  temples  to  idols,  and  sacrificed  hu- 
man victims  to  them,  which  they  afterwards  de- 
voured. 

After  the  fisherman  had  resided  many  years  on 
this  continent,  during  which  time  he  had  passed  from 
the  service  of  one  chieftain  to  another,  and  traversed 
various  parts  of  it,  certain  boats  of  Estotiland  arrived 
on  the  coast  of  Drogeo.  The  fisherman  went  on 
board  of  them,  acted  as  interpreter,  and  followed 
the  trade  between  the  main-land  and  Estotiland  for 
some  time,  until  he  became  very  rich :  then  he  fitted 
out  a  bark  of  his  own,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
some  of  the  people  of  the  island,  made  his  way  back, 
across  the  thousand  intervening  miles  of  ocean,  and 
arrived  safe  at  Friseland.  The  account  he  gave  of 
these  countries,  determined  Zichmni,  the  prince  of 
Friseland,  to  send  an  expedition  thither,  and  Anto- 
nio Zeno  was  to  command  it.  Just  before  sailing, 
the  fisherman,  who  was  to  have  acted  as  guide,  died , 
but  certain  mariners,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
Estotiland,  were  taken  in  his  place.  The  expedi- 
tion sailed  under  command  of  Zichmni  ;  the  Yene* 
tian,  Zeno,  merely  accompanied  it.  It  was  unsuc- 
cessful. After  having  discovered  an  island  called 
tcaria,  where  they  met  with  a  rough  reception  from 
the  inhabitants,  and  were  obliged  to  withdraw,  the 


438 


APPENDIX. 


ihips  wtre  driven  by  a  storm  to  Greenland.  No 
record  remains  of  any  further  prosecution  of  the  en- 
terprise. 

The  countries  mentioned  in  the  account  of  Zeno, 
were  laid  down  on  a  map  originally  engraved  on 
wood.  The  island  of  Estotiland  has  been  supposed 
by  M.  Malte-Brun  to  be  Newfoundland ;  its  par- 
tially civilized  inhabitants  the  descendants  of  the 
Scandinavian  colonists  of  Vinland  ;  and  the  Latin 
books  in  the  king's  library  to  be  the  remains  of  the 
library  of  the  Greenland  bishop,  who  emigrated 
thither  in  1121.  Drogeo,  according  to  the  same  con- 
jecture, was  Nova  Scotia  and  New  England.  The 
civilized  people  to  the  south-west,  who  sacrificed  hu- 
man victims  in  rich  temples,  he  surmises  to  have 
have  been  the  Mexicans,  or  some  ancient  nation  of 
Florida  or  Louisiana. 

The  premises  do  not  appear  to  warrant  this  deduc- 
tion. The  whole  story  abounds  with  improbabilities ; 
not  the  least  of  which  is  the  civilization  prevalent 
among  the  inhabitants ;  their  houses  of  stone,  their 
European  arts,  the  library  of  their  king  ;  no  traces 
of  which  were  to  be  found  on  their  subsequent  dis- 
covery. Not  to  mention  the  information  about 
Mexico  penetrating  through  the  numerous  savage 
tribes  of  a  vast  continent.  It  is  proper  to  observe 
that  this  account  was  not  published  until  1558,  long 
after  the  discovery  of  Mexico.  It  was  given  to  the 
world  by  Francisco  Marcolini,  a  descendant  of  the 
Zeni,  from  the  fragments  of  letters  said  to  have  been 
written  by  Antonio  Zeno  to  Carlo  his  brother.  "  It 
l^rieves  me,"  says  the  editor,  "  that  the  book,  and 
divers  other  writings  concerning  these  matters,  are 
miserably  lost ;  for  being  but  a  cliild  when  they 
came  to  my  hands,  and  not  knowing  what  they  were, 
I  tore  them  and  rent  them  in  pieces,  which  now  I 


APPENDIX, 


439 


cannot  call  to  remembrance  but  to  my  exceeding 
great  grief."  ^ 

This  garbled  statement  by  Marcolmi,  derived  con- 
siderable authority  by  being  introduced  by  Abraham 
Ortelins,  an  able  geographer,  in  his  Theatrum  Orbis ; 
but  the  whole  story  has  been  condemned  by  able 
commentators  as  a  gross  fabrication.  Mr.  Forster  re- 
sents this,  as  an  instance  of  obstinate  incredulity, 
saying  that  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  the  existence  of 
the  country  of  which  Carlo,  Nicolo  and  Antonio  Zeno 
talk ;  as  original  acts  in  the  archives  of  Venice  prove 
that  the  chevalier  undertook  a  voyage  to  the  north  ; 
that  his  brother  Antonio  followed  him  ;  that  Anto- 
nio traced  a  map,  which  he  brought  back  and  hung 
up  in  his  house,  where  it  remained  subject  to  public 
examination,  until  the  time  of  Marcolini,  as  an  in- 
contestable proof  of  the  truth  of  what  he  advanced. 
Granting  all  this,  it  merely  proves  that  Antonio  and 
his  brother  were  at  Friseland  and  Greenland.  Their 
letters  never  assert  that  Zeno  made  the  voyage  to 
Estotiland.  The  fleet  was  carried  by  a  tempest  to 
Greenland,  after  which  we  hear  no  more  of  him  ; 
and  his  account  of  Estotiland  and  Drogeo  rests  sim- 
ply on  the  tale  of  the  fisherman,  after  whose  de- 
scriptions his  map  must  have  been  conjecturally  pro- 
jected. The  whole  story  resembles  much  the  fables 
circulated  shortly  after  the  discovery  of  Columbus, 
to  arrogate  to  other  nations  and  individuals  the 
credit  of  the  achievement. 

M.  Malte-Brun  intimates  that  the  alleged  discov- 
ery of  Vinland  may  have  been  known  to  Columbus 
when  he  made  a  voyage  in  the  North  Sea  in  1477,^ 
and  that  the  map  of  Zeno,  being  in  the  national 
ubrary  at  London,  in  a  Danish  work,  at  the  time 

1  Hackluyt,  Collect,  vol.  iii.  p.  127. 

5*  Malte-Brun,  Hist,  de  Geog.  torn.  i.  lib.  xvii. 


440 


APPENDIX, 


when  Bartljolomew  Cokimbus  was  in  tliat  city,  em 
ployed  in  making  maps,  he  may  have  known  some-* 
thing  of  it,  and  have  communicated  it  to  his  brother.^ 
Had  M.  Malte-Brun  examined  the  history  of  Co 
lumbus  with  his  usual  accuracy,  he  would  have  per- 
ceived, that,  in  his  correspondence  with  Paulo  Tos- 
canelli  in  1474,  he  had  expressed  his  intention  of 
seeking  India  by  a  route  directly  to  the  west.  His 
voya;2,e  to  the  north  did  not  take  place  until  three 
years  afterwards.  As  to  the  residence  of  Barthol- 
omew in  London,  it  was  not  until  after  Columbus 
had  made  his  propositions  of  discovery  to  Portugal, 
if  not  to  the  courts  of  other  powers.  Granting, 
therefore,  that  he  had  subsequently  heard  the  dubious 
stories  of  Yinland,  and  of  the  fisherman^s  adven- 
tures, as  related  by  Zeno,  or  at  least  by  Marcolini, 
they  evidently  could  not  have  influenced  him  in  his 
great  enterprise.  His  route  had  no  reference  to 
them,  but  was  a  direct  western  course,  not  toward 
Vinland,  and  Estotiland,  and  Drogeo,  but  in  search 
of  Cipango,  and  Cathay,  and  the  other  countries 
described  by  Marco  Polo,  as  lying  at  the  extremity 
of  India. 


No.  XY. 

CIRCUMNAVIGATION  OF  AFKICA  BY  THE  ANCIENT^. 

The  knowledge  of  the  ancients  with  respect  tc 
I  he  Atlantic  coast  of  Africa  is  considered  by  modern 
investigators  much  less  extensive  than  had  been  im- 
agined ;  and  it  is  doubted  whether  they  had  any 

1  Idem,  Geog.  Universelle,  torn.  xiv.  Note  sur  la  dccou- 
verte  de  r'Am^rique. 


APPENDIX. 


441 


priictktal  authority  for  the  belief  that  Africa  wa.i  eir- 
cumnavigable.  The  alleged  voyage  of  Eiidoxus  of 
Cyzicus,  from  the  Red  Sea  to  Gibraltar,  though  re- 
corded by  Pliny,  Pomponius  Mela,  and  others,  ig 
given  entirely  on  the  assertion  of  Cornelius  Nepos, 
who  does  not  tell  from  whence  he  derived  his  infor- 
mation. Posidonius  (cited  by  Strabo)  gives  an  en- 
tirely different  account  of  his  voyage  and  j-ejects  it 
with  contempt.-'- 

The  famous  voyage  of  Hanno,  the  Carthaginian, 
is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  about  a  thousand 
years  before  the  Christian  era.  The  Periplus  Han- 
nonis  remains,  a  brief  and  obscure  record  of  this 
expedition,  and  a  subject  of  great  comment  and 
controversy.  By  some  it  has  been  pronounced  a 
fictitious  work,  fabricated  among  the  Greeks,  but  its 
authenticity  has  been  ably  vindicated.  It  appears  to 
be  satisfactorily  proved,  however,  that  the  voyage 
of  this  navigator  has  been  greatly  exaggerated,  and 
that  he  never  circumnavigated  the  extreme  end 
of  Africa.  Mons.  de  Bougainville  ^  traces  his  route 
to  a  promontory  which  he  named  the  West  Horn, 
supposed  to  be  Cape  Palmas,  about  five  or  six  de- 
grees north  of  the  equinoctial  line,  whence  he  pro- 
ceeded to  another  promontory,  under  the  same  par- 
allel, which  he  called  the  South  Horn,  supposed  to 
be  Cape  de  Tres  Puntas.  Mons.  Gosselin,  however, 
in  his  Researches  into  the  Geography  of  the  An- 
cients, (Tom.  i.  p.  162,  &c.)  after  a  rigid  examina- 
tion of  the  Periplus  of  Hanno,  determines  that  he  had 
not  sailed  farther  south  than  Cape  Non.  Pliny,  who 
makes  Hanno  range  the  whole  coast  of  Africa,  from' 
the  straits  to  the  confines  of  Arabia,  had  never  seen 

1  Gosselin,  Recherches  sur  la  Geographie  des  Anciens,  tora 
I.  p.  162,  &c. 

2  Memoirs  de  TAcad.  des  Inscript.  tora.  xxvi. 


442 


APPENDIX, 


his  Pei-Iplus,  but  took  his  idea  from  the  works  of 
Xenoplion  of  Lampsaco.  The  Greeks  surcharged 
the  narration  of  the  voyager  with  all  kinds  of  fables, 
and  on  their  unfaithful  copies,  Strabo  founded  many 
of  bis  assertions.  According  to  M.  Gosselin,  the 
itineraries  of  Hanno,  of  Scylax,  Poly bi us,  Statins, 
Sebosus  and  Juba  ;  the  recitals  of  Plato,  of  Aris- 
totle, of  Pliny,  of  Plutarch,  and  the  tables  of  Ptol- 
emy, all  bring  us  to  the  same  results,  and,  notwith- 
standing their  apparent  contradictions,  fix  the  limit 
of  southern  navigation  about  the  neighborhood  of 
Cape  Non,  or  Cape  Bojador. 

The  opinion  that  Africa  was  a  peninsula,  which 
existed  among  the  Persians,  the  Egyptians,  and  per- 
haps the  Greeks,  several  centuries  prior  to  the  Chris- 
tian era,  was  not,  in  his  opinion,  founded  upon  any 
known  facts  ;  but  merely  on  conjecture,  from  con- 
sidering the  immensity  and  unity  of  the  ocean  ;  or 
perhaps  on  more  ancient  traditions ;  or  on  ideas 
produced  by  the  Carthaginian  discoveries,  beyond  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  those  of  the  Egyptains  be- 
yond the  Gulf  of  Arabia.  He  thinks  that  there  was  a 
very  remote  period,  when  geography  was  much  more 
perfect  than  in  the  time  of  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Greeks,  whose  knowledge  was  but  confused  traces  of 
what  had  previously  been  better  known. 

The  opinion  that  the  Indian  Sea  joined  the  ocean 
was  admitted  among  the  Greeks,  and  in  the  school 
of  Alexandria,  until  the  time  of  Hipparchus.  It 
seemed  authorized  by  the  direction  which  the  coast 
of  AlHca  took  after  Cape  Aromata,  always  tending 
westward,  as  far  as  it  had  been  explored  by.  nav- 
igators. 

It  was  supposed  that  the  western  coast  of  Africa 
rounded  off  to  m^.et  the  eastern,  and  that  the  whole 
jt^as  bounded  by  'ihe  ocean,  much  to  the  northward 


APPENDIX. 


443 


t>f  the  equator.  Such  was  the  opinion  of  Crates, 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  Alexander ;  of  Aratus,  of 
Cleanthes,  of  Cleomedes,  of  Strabo,  of  Pomponius 
Mela,  of  Maerobius,  and  many  others. 

Hipparchus  proposed  a  different  system,  and  led 
the  world  into  an  error,  which  for  a  long  time  re- 
tarded the  maritime  communication  of  Europe  and 
India.  He  supposed  that  the  seas  were  separated 
into  distinct  basins,  and  that  the  eastern  shores  of 
Africa  made  a  circuit  round  the  Indian  Sea,  so  as  to 
join  those  of  Asia  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges. 
Subsequent  discoveries,  instead  of  refuting  this  er- 
ror, only  placed  the  junction  of  the  continents  at  a 
greater  distance.  Marinus  of  Tyre,  and  Ptolemy, 
adopted  this  opinion  in  their  works,  and  illustrated 
it  in  their  maps,  which  for  centuries  controlled  the 
general  belief  of  mankind,  and  perpetuated  the  idea 
that  Africa  extended  onward  to  the  south  pole,  and 
that  it  was  impossible  to  arrive  by  sea  at  the  coasts 
of  India.  Still  there  were  geographers  who  leaned 
to  the  more  ancient  idea  of  a  communication  be- 
tween the  Indian  Sea  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It 
had  its  advocates  in  Spain,  and  was  maintained  by 
Pomponius  Mela  and  by  Isidore  of  Seville.  It  was 
believed  also  by  some  of  the  learned  in  Italy,  in  the 
thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries ;  and 
thus  was  kept  alive  until  it  was  acted  upon  so  vigor- 
ously by  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal,  and  at  length 
triumphantly  demonstrated  by  Vasco  de  Gama,  in  his 
circumnavigation  of  tie  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


444 


APPENDIX. 


No.  XVI. 

OF  THE  SHIPS  OF  COLUMBUS. 

In  remarking  on  the  smallness  of  the  vessels  with 
which  Cohimbus  made  his  first  voyage,  Dr.  Robertson 
observes,  that,  "  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  bulk 
and  consti'uction  of  vessels  were  accommodated  to 
the  short  and  easy  voyages  along  the  coast,  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  perform."  We  have  many 
proofs,  however,  that  even  anterior  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  there  were  large  ships  employed  by  the 
Spaniards,  as  well  as  by  other  nations.  In  an  edict 
published  in  Barcelona,  in  1354,  by  Pedro  lY.,  en- 
forcing various  regulations  for  the  security  of  com 
merce,  mention  is  made  of  Catalonian  merchant 
ships  of  two  and  three  decks  and  from  8,000  to 
12,000  quintals  burden. 

In  1419,  Alonzo  of  Aragon  hired  several  mer- 
chant ships  to  transport  artillery,  horses,  &c.  from 
Barcelona  to  Italy,  among  which  were  two,  each 
carrying  one  hundred  and  twenty  horses,  which  it  is 
computed  would  require  a  vessel  of  at  least  600 
tons. 

In  1463,  mention  is  made  of  a  Venetian  ship  of 
700  tons  which  arri\ed  at  Barcelona  from  England, 
laden  with  wheat. 

In  1497,  a  Castilian  vessel  arrived  there,  being  of 
12,000  quintals  burden.  These  arrivals  incidentally 
mentioned  among  others  of  similar  size,  as  happening 
at  one  port,  show  that  large  ships  were  in  use  in 
those  days.^  Indeed,  at  the  time  of  fitting  out  the 
second  expedition  of  Columbus,  there  were  prepared 
in  the  port  of  Bermeo,  a  caracca  of  1,250  tons,  and 
1  Capmany,  Questiones  Criticas.    Quest.  6. 


APPENDIX, 


445 


four  ships,  of  from  150  to  450  tons  burden.  Their 
destination,  however,  was  altered,  and  they  were 
Bent  to  convoy  Muley  Boabdil,  the  last  Moorish 
king  of  Granada,  from  the  coast  of  his  conquered 
territory  to  Africa.^ 

It  was  not  for  want  of  large  vessels  in  the  Spanish 
ports,  therefore,  that  those  of  Columbus  were  of  so 
small  a  size.  He  considered  them  best  adapted  to 
voyages  of  discovery,  as  they  required  but  little  depth 
of  water,  and  therefore  could  more  easily  and  safely 
coast  unknown  shores,  and  explore  bays  and  rivers. 
Hd  had  some  purposely  constructed  of  a  very  small 
size  for  this  service ;  such  was  the  caravel,  which  in 
his  third  voyage  he  dispatched  to  look  out  for  an 
opening  to  the  sea  at  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  of 
Pari  a,  when  the  water  grew  too  shallow  for  his  vessel 
of  one  hundred  tons  burden. 

The  most  singular  circumstance  with  respect  to  the 
ships  of  Columbus  is  that  they  should  be  open  ves- 
sels :  for  it  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  a  voyage  of 
such  extent  and  peril  should  be  attempted  in  barks 
of  so  frail  a  construction.  This,  however,  is  expressly- 
mentioned  by  Peter  Martyr,  in  his  Decades  written 
at  the  time  :  and  mention  is  made  occasionally,  in 
the  memoirs  relative  to  the  voyages  written  by  Co- 
lumbus and  his  son,  of  certain  of  his  vessels  being 
without  decks.  He  sometimes  speaks  of  the  same 
vessel  as  a  ship,  and  a  caravel.  There  has  been  some 
discussion  of  late  as  to  the  precise' meaning  of  the 
term  caravel.  The  Chevalier  Bossi,  in  his  disserta- 
tions on  Columbus,  observes,  that  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, caravel  designates  the  largest  class  of  ships 
of  war  among  the  Mussulmans,  and  that  in  Portugal, 
it  means  a  small  vessel  of  from  120  to  140  tons  bur- 


i  Archives  de  Ind.  en  Sevilla. 


146 


APPENDIX. 


den  ;  but  Columbus  sometimes  applies  it  to  c*  v^essel 
of  40  tons 

Du  Cange,  in  his  glossary,  considers  it  a  word  of 
Italian  origin.  Bossi  thinks  it  either  Turkish  or 
Arabic,  and  probably  introduced  into  the  European 
languages  by  the  Moors.  Mr.  Edward  Everett,  in  a 
note  to  his  Plymouth  oration,  considers  that  the  true 
origin  of  the  word  is  given  in  "  Ferrarii  Origines 
Linguaa  Italicae,"  as  follows  :  "  Caravela,  navigii  mino- 
ris  genus.    Lat.  Carabus :  Greece  Karabron." 

That  the  word  caravel  was  intended  to  signify  a 
vessel  of  a  small  size  is  evident  from  a  naval  classifi- 
cation made  by  King  Alonzo  in  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  In  the  first  class  he  enumerates 
Naos^  or  large  ships  which  go  only  with  sails,  some  of 
which  have  two  masts,  and  others  but  one.  In  the 
second  class  smaller  vessels  as  Carracas,  Fustas,  Belle- 
nares,  Pinazas,  CarabelaSy  &c.  In  the  third  class 
vessels  with  sails  and  oars  as  Galleys,  Galeots,  Tar- 
dantes,  and  Saetias.-^ 

Bossi  gives  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  Columbus 
to  Don  Raphael  Xansis,  treasurer  of  the  King  of 
Spain ;  an  edition  of  which  exists  in  the  public 
library  at  Milan.  With  this  letter  he  gives  several 
wood-cuts  of  sketches  made  with  a  pen,  which  accom- 
panied this  letter,  and  which  he  supposes  to  have 
been  from  the  hand  of  Columbus.  In  these  are  rep- 
resented vessels  which  are  probably  caravels.  They 
have  high  bows  and  sterns,  with  castles  on  the  latter. 
They  have  short  masts  with  large  square  sails.  Ono 
of  them,  besides  sails,  has  benches  of  oars,  and  is  pro- 
bably intended  to  represent  a  galley.  They  are  all 
evidently  vessels  of  small  size,  and  light  construction. 

In  a  work  called  "  Recherches  sur  le  Commerce,** 


1  Capmany,  Qnest.  Grit. 


APPENDIX. 


447 


published  in  Amsterdam,  1779,  is  a  plate  represent- 
ing a  vessel  of  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. It  is  taken  from  a  picture  in  the  church  of  St. 
Giovanni  e  Paolo  in  Venice.  The  vessel  bears  much 
resemblance  to  those  said  to  have  been  sketched  by 
Columbus ;  it  has  two  masts,  one  of  which  is  ex 
tremely  small,  with  a  latine  sail.  The  mainmast  ha# 
a  large  square  sail.  The  vessel  has  a4iigh  poop  and 
prow,  is  decked  at  each  end,  and  is  open  in  the  cen- 
tre. 

It  appears  to  be  the  fact,  therefore,  that  most  of 
the  vessels  with  which  Columbus  undertook  his  long 
and  perilous  voyages,  were  of  this  light  and  frail  con- 
struction ;  and  little  superior  to  the  small  craft  which 
ply  on  rivers  and  along  coasts  in  modern  days. 


No.  xvn. 

ROUTE  OF  COLUMBUS  IN  HIS  FIRST  VOYAGE. 

It  has  hitherto  been  s7ipposed  that  one  of  the 
Bahama  Islands,  at  present  bearing  the  name  of  San 
Salvador,  and  which  is  also  known  as  Cat  Island,  was 
the  first  point  where  Columbus  came  in  contact  with 
the  New  World.  Navarrete,  however,  in  his  intro- 
duction to  the  Collection  of  Spanish  Voyages  and 
Discoveries  "  recently  published  at  Madrid,  has  en- 

^  The  author  of  this  work  is  indebted  for  this  able  examin- 
ation of  the  route  of  Columbus  to  an  officer  of  the  ndV}^  of 
the  United  States,  whose  name  he  regrets  the  not  being  at 
liberty  to  mention.  He  has  been  greatly  benefited,  in  various 
parts  of  this  history,  by  nautical  information  ft'om  the  same 
intelligent  source. 


448 


APPENDIX, 


deavorod  to  show  that  it  must  have  been  Turk's 
Island,  one  of  the  same  group,  situated  about  100 
leagues  (of  20  to  the  degree)  S.  E.  of  San  Salvador 
Great  care  has  been  taken  to  examine  candidly  the 
opinion  of  Navarrete,  comparing  it  with  the  journal 
oi'  Columbus,  as  published  in  the  above-mentioned 
work,  and  with  the  personal  observations  of  the 
writer  of  this,  article,  who  has  been  much  among 
these  islands. 

Columbus  describes  Guanahani,  on  which  he  landed, 
and  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  San  Salvador,  as 
being  a  beautiful  island,  and  very  large  ;  as  being 
level,  and  covered  with  forests,  many  of  the  trees  of 
which  bore  fruit ;  as  having  abundance  of  fresh  water, 
and  a  large  lake  in  the  centre ;  that  it  was  inhabited 
by  a  numerous  population ;  that  he  proceeded  for  a 
considerable  distance  in  his  boats  along  the  shore, 
which  trended  to  the  N.  N.  E.,  and  as  he  passed,  was 
visited  by  the  inhabitants  of  several  villages.  Turk's 
Island  does  not  answer  to  this  description. 

Turk's  Island  is  a  low  key  composed  of  sand  and 
rocks,  and  lying  north  and  south,  less  than  two 
leagues  in  extent.  It  is  utterly  destitute  of  wood, 
and  has  not  a  single  tree  of  native  growth.  It  has 
ro  fresh  water,  the  inhabitants  depending  entirely 
on  cisterns  and  casks  in  which  they  preserve  the 
rciin ;  neither  has  it  any  lake,  but  several  salt  ponds, 
which  furnish  the  sole  production  of  the  island. 
Turk's  Island  cannot  be  approached  on  the  east  or 
north-east  side,  in  consequence  of  the  reef  that  sur- 
rounds it.  It  has  no  harbor,  but  has  an  open  road 
on  the  west  side,  which  vessels  at  anchor  there  have 
to  leave  and  put  to  sea  whenever  the  wind  comes 
from  any  other  quarter  than  that  of  the  usual  trade 
breeze  of  N.  E.  which  blows  over  the  island ;  for  the 
■nore  is  so  bold  that  there  is  no  anchorage  except 


APPENDIX. 


449 


•?ioso  to  it ;  and  when  the  wind  ceases  to  blow  froD 
the  land,  vessels  remaining  at  their  anchors  would  be 
swung  against  the  rocks,  or  forced  high  upon  the 
Bhore,  by  the  terrible  surf  that  then  prevails.  The 
unfrequented  road  of  the  Hawk's  Nest,  at  the  south 
end  of  the  island,  is  even  more  dangerous.  Thiti 
island,  which  is  not  susceptible  of  the  slightest  culti- 
vation, furnishes  a  scanty  subsistence  to  a  few  sheep 
and  horses.  The  inhabitants  draw  all  their  consump- 
tion from  abroad,  with  the  exception  of  fish  and  tur- 
tle, which  are  taken  in  abundance,  and  supply  the 
principal  food  of  the  slaves  employed  in  the  salt- 
works. The  whole  wealth  of  the  island  consists  In 
the  produce  of  the  salt-ponds,  and  in  the  salvage 
and  plunder  of  the  many  wrecks  which  take  place 
in  the  neighborhood.  Turk's  Island,  therefore,  would 
never  be  inhabited  in  a  savage  state  of  society,  where 
commerce  does  not  exist,  and  where  men  are  obliged 
to  draw  their  subsistence  from  the  spot  which  they 
people. 

Again  :  when  about  to  leave  GuanahanI,  Columbus 
was  at  a  loss  to  choose  which  to  visit  of  a  great 
number  of  islands  in  sight.  Now  there  is  no  land 
visible  from  Turk's  Island,  excepting  the  two  salt 
keys  which  lie  south  of  it,  and  with  it  form  the 
group  known  as  Turk's  Islands.  The  journal  of 
Columbus  does  not  tell  us  what  course  he  steered  in 
going  from  Guanahani  to  Concepcion,  but  he  states, 
that  it  was  five  leagues  distant  from  the  former,  and 
that  the  current  was  against  him  in  sailing  tc  it* 
whereas  the  distance  from  Turk's  Island  to  the  Gran 
Caico,  supposed  by  Navarrete  to  be  the  Concepcion  of 
Columbus,  is  nearly  double,  and  the  current  sets  con- 
stantly to  the  W.  N.  W.  among  these  islands,  which 
would  be  favorable  in  going  from  Turk's  Island  to 
the  Caicos. 

VOL.  Ill  29 


€50 


APPENDIX. 


From  Concepcion  Columbus  wen  next  io  an  isl 
and  whicli  he  saw  nine  leagues  off  in  a  westerly 
direction,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Fernandina. 
This  Navarrete  takes  to  be  Little  Inagua,  distant  no 
less  than  twenty-two  leagues  from  Gran  Caico.  Be* 
sides,  in  going  to  Little  Inagua,  it  would  be  neces* 
sary  to  pass  quite  close  to  three  islands,  each  large»^ 
than  Turk's  Island,  none  of  which  are  mentioned  in 
the  journal.  Columbus  describes  Fernandina  as 
stretching  twenty-eight  leagues  S.  E.  and  N.  W. 
whereas  Little  Inagua  has  its  greatest  length  of  four 
leagues  in  a  S.  W.  direction.  In  a  word,  the  des- 
cription of  Fernandina  has  nothing  in  common  with 
Little  Inagua.  From  Fernandina  Columbus  sailed 
S.  E.  to  Isabella,  which  Navarrete  takes  to  be  Great 
Inagua  ;  whereas  this  latter  bears  S.  W.  from  Little 
Inagua,  a  course  differing  90*^  from  the  one  followed 
by  Columbus.  Again :  Columbus,  on  the  20th  of 
November,  takes  occasion  to  say  that  Guanahani  was 
distant  eight  leagues  from  Isabella :  whereas  Turk's 
Island  is  thirty-five  leagues  from  Great  Inagua. 

Leaving  Isabella,  Columbus  stood  W.  S.  W.  for 
the  island  of  Cuba,  and  fell  in  with  the  Islas  Arenas. 
This  course  drawn  from  Great  Inagua,  would  meet 
the  coast  of  Cuba  about  Port  Nipe  :  whereas  Navar- 
rete supposes  that  Columbus  next  fell  in  with  the 
keys  south  of  the  Jumentos,  and  which  bear  W.  N. 
\V.  from  Inagua  :  a  course  differing  45°  from  the 
one  steered  by  the  ships.  After  sailing  for  some 
time  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cuba,  Columbus  finds 
himself,  on  the  14th  of  November,  in  the  sea  of  Nues- 
tra  Senora,  surrounded  by  so  many  islands  that  it  was 
impossible  to  count  them  :  whereas,  on  the  same  day, 
Navarrete  places  him  off  Cape  Moa,  where  there  is 
but  one  small  island,  and  more  than  fifty  leagues  dis- 
tant from  any  group  that  can  possibly  answer  the 
description. 


APPENDIX, 


Colunibus  informs  us  that  San  Salvador  was  dis- 
t  vnt  from  Port  Principe  forty-five  leagues  :  whereas 
Turk's  Island  is  distant  from  the  point,  supposed  by 
Navarrete  to  be  the  same,  eighty  leagues. 

On  taking  leave  of  Cuba,  Columbus  remarks  that 
he  had  followed  its  coast  for  an  extent  of  1 20 
leagues.  Deducting  twenty  leagues  for  his  having 
followed  its  windings,  there  still  remaiiT  100.  Now, 
Navarrete  only  supposes  him  to  have  coasted  this 
island  an  extent  of  seventy  leagues. 

Such  are  the  most  important  difficulties  which  the 
theory  of  Navarrete  offers,  and  which  appear  insur- 
mountable. Let  us  now  take  up  the  route  of  Co- 
lumbus as  recorded  in  his  journal,  and,  with  the  best 
charts  before  us,  examine  how  it  agrees  with  the 
popular  and  traditional  opinion,  that  he  first  landed 
on  the  island  of  San  Salvador. 

We  learn  from  the  journal  of  Columbus,  that,  on 
the  11th  of  October,  1492,  he  continued  steering 
W.  S.  W.  until  sunset,  when  he  returned  to  his  old 
course  of  west,  the  vessels  running  at  the  rate  of 
three  leagues  an  hour.  At  ten  o'clock  he  and  sev- 
eral of  his  crew  saw  a  light,  which  seemed  like  a 
torch  carried  about  on  land.  He  continued  run- 
ning on  four  hours  longer,  and  had  made  a  distance 
of  twelve  leagues  farther  west,  when  at  two  in  the 
morning  land  was  discovered  ahead,  distant  two 
leagues.  The  twelve  leagues  which  they  ran  since 
ten  o'clock,  with  the  two  leagues  distance  from  the 
land,  form  a  total  corresponding  essentially  with  the 
distance  and  situation  of  Watling's  Island  from  San 
Salvador  ;  and  it  is  thence  presumed,  that  the  light 
^een  at  that  hour  was  on  Watling's  Islan<l,  which 
they  were  then  passing.  Had  the  light  been  seen 
on  land  ahead,  and  they  had  kept  running  on  four 
hours,  at  the  rate  of  three  leagues  an  hour,  they 


452 


APPENDIX. 


must  have  ran  lilgli  and  dry  on  shore.  As  the  ad- 
miral himL^elf  received  the  royal  reward  for  having 
seen  this  light,  as  the  first  discovery  of  land,  Wat- 
ling's  Island  is  believed  to  be  the  point  for  whi  fa 
this  premium  was  granted. 

On  making  land,  the  vessels  were  hove  to  until 
daylight  of  the  same  12th  of  October;  they  then 
anchored  off' an  island  of  great  beauty,  covered  with 
forests,  and  extremely  populous. 

It  was  called  Guanahani  by  the  natives,  but  Co- 
lumbus gave  it  the  name  of  San  Salvador.  Explor- 
ing its  coast,  where  it  ran  to  the  N.  N.  E.  he  found 
a  harbor  capable  of  sheltering  any  number  of  ships. 
This  description  corresponds  minutely  with  the  S.  E. 
part  of  the  island  known  as  San  Salvador,  or  Cat 
Island,  which  lies  east  and  west,  bending  at  its  east- 
ern extremity  to  the  N.  N.  E.,  and  has  the  same 
verdant  and  fertile  appearance.  The  vessels  had 
probably  drifted  into  this  bay  at  the  S.  E.  side  of 
San  Salvador,  on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  while 
lying  to  for  daylight ;  nor  did  Columbus,  while  re- 
maining at  the  island,  or  when  sailing  from  it,  open 
the  land  so  as  to  discover  that  what  he  had  taken 
for  its  whole  length  was  but  a  bend  at  one  end  of 
it,  and  that  the  main  body  of  the  island  lay  behind, 
stretching  far  to  the  N.  W.  From  Guanahani,  Co- 
lumbus saw  so  many  other  islands  that  he  was  at  a 
loss  which  next  to  visit.  The  Indians  signified  that 
they  were  innumerable,  and  mentioned  the  names  of 
above  a  hundred.  He  determined  to  go  to  the 
largest  in  sight,  which  appeared  to  be  about  five 
(eagues  distant ;  some  of  the  others  were  nearer, 
and  some  further  off.  The  island  thus  se]^^.cted,  it  i? 
presumed,  was  the  present  island  of  Ccncepcion 
and  that  the  others  were  that  singular  belt  of  small 
islands,  known  as  La  Cadena  (or  the  chain),  stretch- 


AhPENDlX. 


453 


ing  past  the  island  of  San  Salvador  in  a  S.  E.  and 
N.  VV.  direction :  the  nearest  of  the  group  beln<^ 
nearer  than  Concepcion,  while  the  rest  are  moro 
distant. 

Leaving  San  Salvador  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
14th  for  the  island  thus  selected,  the  ships  lay  by 
during  the  night,  and  did  not  reach  it  until  late  ia 
the  following  day,  being  retarded  by  adverse  cur- 
rents. Columbus  gave  this  island  the  name  of  Santa 
Maria  de  la  Concepcion:  he  does  not  mention  either 
its  bearings  from  San  Salvador,  or  the  course  which 
he  steered  in  going  to  it.  We  know  that  in  all  this 
neighborhood  the  current  sets  strongly  and  con- 
stantly to  the  W.  N.  W. ;  and  since  Columbus  had 
the  current  against  him,  he  must  have  been  sailing 
in  an  opposite  direction,  or  to  the  E.  S.  E.  Besides, 
when  near  Concepcion,  Columbus  sees  another  isl- 
and to  the  westward,  the  largest  he  had  yet  seen ; 
but  he  tells  us  that  he  anchored  off  Concepcion,  and 
did  not  stand  for  this  larger  island,  because  he  could 
not  have  sailed  to  the  west.  Hence  it  is  rendered 
certain  that  Columbus  did  not  sail  westward  in  going 
from  San  Salvador  to  Concepcion ;  for,  from  the  op- 
position of  the  wind,  as  there  could  be  no  other 
cause,  he  could  not  sail  towards  that  quarter.  Now, 
on  reference  to  the  chart,  we  find  the  island  at  pres- 
ent known  as  Concepcion  situated  E.  S.  E.  from  San 
Salvador,  and  at  a  corresponding  distance  of  five 
leagues. 

Leaving  Concepcion  on  the  16th  October,  Colum* 
bus  steered  for  a  very  large  island  seen  to  the  west- 
ward nine  leagues  off,  and  which  extended  itself 
twenty-eight  leagues  in  a  S.  E.  and  N.  W.  direction. 
He  was  becalmed  the  whol*,  day,  and  did  not  reach 
the  island  until  the  following  morning,  17th  October. 
He  named  it  Fernandina.    At  noon  he  made  sail 


454 


APPENDIX, 


again,  with  a  view  to  run  round  it,  and  reach  an* 
other  island  called  Samoet ;  but  the  wind  being  at 
S.  E.  by  S.,  the  course  he  wished  to  steer,  the  na- 
tives signified  that  it  would  be  easier  to  sail  round 
this  island  by  running  to  the  N.  W.  with  a  fair  wind. 
He  therefore  bore  up  to  the  N.  W.,  and  having  run 
two  leagues  found  a  marvelous  port,  with  a  narrow 
entrance,  or  rather  with  two  entrances,  for  there  was 
an  island  which  shut  it  in  completely,  forming  a  no- 
ble basin  within.  Sailing  out  of  this  harbor  by  the 
opposite  entrance  at  the  N.  W.,  he  discovered  that 
part  of  the  island  which  runs  east  and  west.  The 
natives  signified  to  him  that  this  island  was  smaller 
than  Samoet,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  return 
towards  the  latter.  It  had  now  become  calm,  but 
shortly  after  there  sprung  up  a  breeze  from  W.  N. 
W.,  which  was  ahead  for  the  course  they  had  been 
steering  ;  so  they  bore  up  and  stood  to  the  E.  S.  E., 
in  order  to  get  an  offing  ;  for  the  weather  threatened 
a  storm,  which  however  dissipated  itself  in  rain. 
The  next  day,  being  the  18th  October,  they  an- 
chored opposite  the  extremity  of  Fernandina. 

The  whole  of  this  description  answers  most  accu- 
rately to  the  island  of  Exuma,  which  lies  south  from 
San  Salvador,  and  S.  W.  by  S.  from  Concepcion. 
The  only  inconsistency  is,  that  Columbus  states  that 
Fernandina  bore  nearly  west  from  Concepcion,  and 
was  tv/enty-eight  leagues  in  extent.  This  mistake 
must  have  proceeded  from  his  having  taken  the  long 
chain  of  keys  called  La  Cadena  for  part  of  the  same 
Exuma ;  which  continuous  appearance  they  naturally 
assume  when  seen  from  Concepcion,  for  they  run  in 
the  same  S.  E.  and  N.  W.  direction.  Their  bear- 
ings, when  seen  from  the  same  point,  are  likewise 
uresterly  as  well  as  southwesterly.  As  a  proof  that 
»uch  was  the  case,  it  may  be  observed,  that,  after 


APPENDIX. 


455 


having  aj^proacbed  these  islaruls,  instead  of  the  ex* 
tent  of  Fernandina  being  increased  to  his  eye,  ho 
now  remarks  that  it  was  twenty  leagues  long,  whereas 
before  it  was  estimated  by  him  at  twenty-eight ;  he 
now  discovers  that  instead  of  one  island  there  were 
many,  and  alters  his  course  southerly  to  reach  the 
one  that  was  most  conspicuous. 

The  identity  of  the  island  here  described  with 
Exuma  is  irresistibly  forced  upon  the  mind.  The 
distance  from  Concepcion,  the  remarkable  port  with 
an  island  in  front  of  it,  and  farther  on  its  coast  turn- 
ing off  to  the  westward,  are  all  so  accurately  de- 
lineated, that  it  would  seem  as  though  the  chart  had 
been  drawn  from  the  description  of  Columbus. 

On  the  19th  October,  the  ships  left  Fernandina, 
steering  S.  E.  with  the  wind  at  north.  Sailing  three 
hours  on  this  course,  they  discovered  Samoet  to  the 
east,  and  steered  for  it,  arriving  at  its  north  point 
before  noon.  Here  they  found  a  little  island  sur- 
rounded by  rocks,  with  another  reef  of  rocks  lying 
between  it  and  Samoet.  To  Samoet  Columbus 
gave  the  name  of  Isabella,  and  to  the  point  of  it 
opposite  the  little  island,  that  of  Cabo  del  Isleo ;  the 
cape  at  the  S.  W.  point  of  Samoet  Columbus  called 
Cabo  de  Laguna,  and  off  this  last  his  ships  were 
brought  to  anchor.  The  little  island  lay  in  the  di- 
rection from  Fernandina  to  Isabella,  east  and  west. 
The  coast  from  the  small  island  lay  westerly  twelve 
leagues  to  a  cape,  which  Columbus  called  Fermosa 
from  its  beauty  ;  this  he  believed  to  be  an  island 
apart  from  Samoet  or  Isabella,  with  another  one  be- 
tween them.  Leaving  Cabo  Laguna,  where  he  re~ 
mained  until  the  20th  October,  Columbus  steered  to 
the  N.  E.  towards  Cabo  del  Isleo,  but  meeting  with 
ihoals  inside  the  small  island,  he  did  not  come  to 
anchor  unti  the  day  following.    Near  this  extremity 


456 


APPENDIX 


of  Isabella  they  found  a  lake,  from  which  the  shlpa 

were  supplied  with  water. 

This  island  of  Isabella,  or  Samoet,  agrees  so  accu- 
rately in  its  description  with  Isla  Larga,  which  lies 
etist  of  Exunia,  that  it  Is  only  necessary  to  read  it 
with  the  chart  unfolded  to  become  convinced  of  the 
identity. 

Having  resolved  to  visit  the  island  which  the  na- 
tives called  Cuba,  and  described  as  bearing  W.  S. 
W.  from  Isabella,  Columbus  left  Cabo  del  Isleo  at 
midnight,  the  commencement  of  the  24th  October, 
and  shaped  his  course  accordingly  to  the  W.  S.  W. 
The  wind  continued  Hght,  with  rain,  until  noon, 
when  it  freshened  up,  and  in  the  evening  Cape 
Verde,  the  S.  W.  point  of  Fernandina,  bore  N.  W. 
distant  seven  leagues.  As  the  night  became  tem- 
pestuous, he  lay  to  until  morning,  drifting  according 
to  the  reckoning  two  leagues. 

On  the  morning  of  the  25th  he  made  sail  again  to 
W.  S.  W.,  until  nine  o'clock,  when  he  had  run  five 
leagues ;  he  then  steered  west  until  three,  v/hen  he 
had  run  eleven  leagues,  at  which  hour  land  was  dis- 
covered, consisting  of  seven  or  eight  keys  lying  north 
and  south,  and  distant  five  leagues  from  the  ships. 
Here  he  anchored  the  next  day,  south  of  these 
islands,  which  he  called  Islas  de  Arena  ;  they  were 
low,  and  five  or  six  leagues  in  extent. 

The  distances  run  by  Columbus,  added  to  the  de- 
parture taken .  from  Fernandina  and  the  distance 
from  these  Islands  of  Arena  at  the  time  of  discover- 
ing, give  a  sum  of  thirty  leagues.  This  sum  of  thirty 
leagues  Is  about  three  less  than  the  distance  from 
the  S.  W.  point  of  Fernandina  or  Exuma,  whence 
Columbus  took  his  departure,  to  the  group  of  Muca^ 
ras,  which  lie  east  of  Cayo  Lobo  on  the  grand  bank 
&f  Bahama,  and  which  correspond  to  the  descrlptioo 


APPENDIX. 


457 


of  Colunihus.  If  it  were  necessaiy  to  account  for 
the  difference  of  three  leagues  in  a  reckoning,  where 
go  much  is  given  on  conjecture,  it  wouhi  readily  oc- 
cur to  a  seaman,  that  an  allowance  of  two  leagues 
for  ♦Irift,  during  a  long  night  of  blowy  weather,  is 
but  a  small  one.  The  course  from  Exuma  to  the 
Mucaras  is  about  S.  W.  by  W.  The  course  followed 
by  Columbus  differs  a  little  from  this,  but  as  it  was 
his  intention,  on  setting  sail  from  Isabella,  to  steer 
W.  S.  W.,  and  since  he  afterwards  altered  it  to  west, 
we  may  conclude  that  he  did  so  in  consequence  of 
having  been  run  out  of  his  course  to  the  southward, 
while  lying  to  the  night  previous. 

Oct.  27. —  At  sunrise  Columbus  set  sail  from  the 
Isles  Arenas  or  Mucaras,  for  an  island  call-ed  Cuba, 
steering  S.  S.  W.  At  dark,  having  made  seventeen 
leagues  on  that  course,  he  saw  the  land,  and  hove 
his  ships  to  until  morning.  On  the  28th  he  made 
sail  again  at  S.  S.  W.,  and  entered  a  beautiful  river 
with  a  fine  harbor,  which  he  named  San  Salvador. 
The  journal  in  this  part  does  not  describe  the  locali- 
ties with  the  minuteness  with  which  everything  has 
hitherto  been  noted ;  the  text  also  is  in  several  places 
obscure. 

This  port  of  San  Salvador  we  take  to  be  the  one 
now  known  as  Caravelas  Grandes,  situated  eight 
leagues  west  of  Nuevitas  del  Principe.  Its  bearings 
and  distance  from  the  Mucaras  coincide  exactly  with 
those  run  by  Columbus  ;  and  its  description  agrees,  as 
far  as  can  be  ascertained  by  charts,  with  the  port 
which  he  visited. 

Oct.  29.  —  Leaving  this  port,  Columbus  bitood  to 
the  west,  and  having  sailed  six  leagues,  he  came  to  a 
point  of  the  island  running  N.  W.,  which  we  take  to 
oe  the  Punta  Gorda  ;  and,  ten  leagues  farther,  an- 
other stretching  easterly,  which  will  be  Punta  Ci^ri" 


458 


APPENDIX. 


ana.  One  league  farther  he  discovered  a  small  river 
and  beyond  this  another  very  large  one,  to  which  ha 
gave  the  name  of  Rio  de  Mares.  This  river  emptied 
into  a  fir  3  basin  resembling  a  lake,  and  having  a  bold 
en  I  ranee  :  it  had  for  landmarks  two  round  mountains 
at  the  S.  W.,  and  to  the  W.  N.  W.  a  bold  promon- 
tory, suitable  for  a  fortification,  which  projected  far 
into  the  sea.  This  we  take  to  be  the  fine  harbor  and 
river  situated  west  of  Point  Curiana ;  its  distance 
corresponds  with  that  run  by  Columbus  from  Cara- 
velas  Grandes,  which  we  have  supposed  identical  with 
Port  San  Salvador.  Leaving  Rio  de  Mares  the  30th 
of  October,  Columbus  stood  to  the  N.  W.  for  fifteen 
leagues,  when  he  saw  a  cape,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  Cabo  de  Palmas.  This,  we  believe,  is  the 
one  which  forms  the  eastern  entrance  to  Laguna  de 
Moron.  Beyond  this  cape  was  a  river,  distant,  ac- 
cording to  the  natives,  four  days'  journey  from  the 
town  of  Cuba  ;  Columbus  determined  therefore  to 
make  for  it. 

Having  lain  to  all  night,  he  reached  the  river  on 
the  31st  of  October,  but  found  that  it  was  too  shal- 
low to  admit  his  ships.  This  is  supposed  to  be  what 
is  now  known  as  Laguna  de  Moron.  Beyond  this 
was  a  cape  surrounded  by  shoals,  and  another  pro- 
jected still  farther  out.  Between  these  two  capes 
was  a  bay  capable  of  receiving  small  vessels.  The 
identity  here  of  the  description  with  the  coast  near 
Laguna  de  Moron  seems  very  clear.  The  cape  east 
of  Laguna  de  Moron  coincides  with  Cape  Palmas, 
the  Laguna  de  Moron  with  the  shoal  river  described 
by  Columbus :  and  in  the  western  point  of  entrance, 
with  the  island  of  Cabrion  opposite  it,  we  recognize 
the  two  projecting  capes  he  speaks  of,  with  what  ap- 
pears to  bfi  a  bay  between  them.  This  all  is  a 
emarkablc  combination,  difiicult  to  be  found  any- 


APPENDIX. 


459 


wlicTe  but  in  the  same  spot  which  Columbus  vlsiteJ 
and  described.  Further,  the  coast  from  the  port  of 
San  Salvador  had  run  west  to  Rio  de  Mares,  a  dis- 
tance of  seventeen  leagues,  and  from  Rio  de  Mares 
it  had  extended  N.  W.  fifteen  leagues  to  Cabo  de 
Palnias  ;  all  of  which  agrees  fully  with  what  has  been 
here  supposed.  The  wini  having  shifted  to  north, 
which  was  contrary  to  the  course  they  had  been 
Bteering,  the  vessels  bore  up  and  returned  to  Rio  de 
Mares. 

On  the  r2th  of  November  the  ships  sailed  out  of 
Rio  de  Mares  to  go  in  quest  of  Babeque,  an  island 
believed  to  abound  in  gold,  and  to  lie  E.  by  S.  from 
that  port.  Having  sailed  eight  leagues  with  a  fair 
wind,  they  came  to  a  river,  in  which  may  be  recog- 
nized the  one  which  lies  just  west  of  Punta  Gorda. 
Four  leagues  farther  they  saw  another,  which  they 
called  Rio  del  Sol.  It  appeared  very  large,  but  they 
did  not  stop  to  examine  it,  as  the  wind  was  fair  to 
advance.  This  we  take  to  be  the  river  now  known 
as  Sabana.  Columbus  was  now  retracing  his  steps, 
and  had  made  twelve  leagues  from  Rio  de  Mares,  but 
in  going  west  from  Port  San  Salvador  to  Rio  dc 
Mares,  he  had  run  seventeen  leagues.  San  Salvado" 
therefore,  remains  five  leagues  east  of  Rio  del  Sol 
and,  accordingly,  on  reference  to  the  chart,  we  find 
Caravelas  Grandes  situated  a  corresponding  distance 
from  Sabana. 

Having  run  six  leagues  from  Rio  del  Sol,  which 
makes  in-  all  eighteen  leagues  from  Rio  de  Mares, 
Columbus  came  to  a  cape  which  he  called  Cabo  de 
Cuba,  probably  from  supposing  it  to  be  the  extremity 
vf  that  island.  This  corresponds  precisely  in  distance 
from  Punta  Curiana  with  the  lesser  island  of  Guajava, 
situated  near  Cuba,  and  between  which  and  the 
greater  Guajava  Columbus  must  have  jassed  in  run- 


460 


APPENDIX. 


ning  ill  for  Port  San  Salvador.  Elthei  he  did  not 
notice  it,  from  his  attention  being  engrossed  by  tha 
magnificent  island  before  him,  or,  as  is  also  possible, 
his  vessels  may  have  been  drifted  through  the  pas- 
Bage,  which  is  two  leagues  wide,  while  lying  to  the 
night  previous  to  their  arrival  at  Port  San  Salvador. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  having  hove  to  ail 
night,  in  the  morning  the  ships  passed  a  point  two 
leagues  in  extent,  and  then  entered  into  a  gulf  that 
made  into  the  S.  S.  W.,  and  which  Columbus  thought 
separated  Cuba  from  Bohio.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
gulf  was  a  large  basin  between  two  mountains.  He 
could  not  determine  whether  or  not  this  was  an  arm 
of  the  sea  ;  for  not  finding  shelter  from  the  north 
wind,  he  put  to  sea  again.  Hence  it  would  appear 
that  Columbus  must  have  partly  sailed  round  the 
smaller  Guajava,  which  he  took  to  be  the  extremity 
of  Cuba,  without  being  aware  that  a  few  hours'  sail 
would  have  taken  him,  by  this  channel,  to  Port  San 
Salvador,  his  first  discovery  in  Cuba,  and  so  back  to 
the  same  Rio  del  Sol  which  he  had  passed  the  day 
previous.  Of  the  two  mountains  seen  on  both  sides 
of  this  entrance,  the  principal  one  corresponds  with 
the  peak  called  Alto  de  Juan  Daune,  which  lies  seven 
leagues  west  of  Punta  de  Maternillos.  The  wind 
continuing  north,  he  stood  east  fourteen  leagues  from 
Cape  Cuba,  which  we  have  supposed  the  lesser  island 
of  Guajava.  It  is  here  rendered  sure  that  the  point 
of  little  Guajava  was  believed  by  him  to  be  the  ex- 
tremity of  Cuba  ;  for  he  speaks  of  the  land  men- 
tioned as  lying  to  leeward  of  the  above-mentioned 
gulf  as  being  the  island  of  Bohio,  and  says  that  he 
discovered  twenty  leagues  of  it  running  E.  S.  E.  and 
W.  N.  W. 

On  the  14th  November,  having  lain  to  all  night 
ivitb  a  N.  E.  wind,  he  determined  to  seek  a  port,  and 


APPENDIX. 


461 


if  he  found  none,  to  return  to  those  which  he  had 
left  ill  the  i^^land  of  Cuba;  for  it  will  be  remembered 
that  all  east  of  little  Guajava  he  supposed  to  be  Bohio. 
He  steered  E.  by  S.  therefore  six  leagues,  and  then 
stood  in  for  the  land.  Here  he  saw  many  ports  and 
islands ;  but  as  it  blew  fresh,  with  a  heavy  sea,  he 
dared  not  enter,  but  ran  the  coast  down  N.  W.  by 
W.  for  a  distance  of  eighteen  leagues,  where  he  saw 
a  clear  entrance  and  a  port,  in  which  he  stood  S.  S. 
W.  and  afterwards  S.  E.,  the  navigation  being  all 
clear  and  open.  Here  Columbus  beheld  so  many 
islands  that  it  was  impossible  to  count  them.  They 
were  very  lofty,  and  covered  with  trees.  Columbus 
called  the  neighboring  sea  Mar  de  Nuestra  Seiiora, 
and  to  the  harbor  near  the  entrance  to  these  islands 
he  gave  the  name  of  Puerto  del  Principe.  This  har- 
bor he  says  he  did  not  enter  until  the  Sunday  follow- 
ing, which  was  four  days  after.  This  part  of  the 
text  of  Columbus's  journal  is  confused,  and  there 
are  also  anticipations,  as  if  it  had  been  written  sub- 
sequently, or  mixed  together  in  copying.  It  appears 
evident,  that  while  lying  to  the  night  previous,  with 
the  wind  at  N.  E.,  the  ships  had  drifted  to  the  N. 
W.,  and  been  carried  by  the  powerful  current  of  the 
Bahama  channel  far  in  the  same  direction.  When 
they  bore  up,  therefore,  to  return  to  the  ports  which 
they  had  left  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  they  fell  in  to 
leeward  of  them,  and  now  first  discovered  the  nu- 
merous group  of  islands  of  which  Cayo  Romano  is 
the  principal.  The  current  of  this  channel  is  of  it- 
self sufficient  to  have  carried  the  vessels  to  the 
westward  a  distance  of  20  leagues,  which  is  what 
ihey  had  run  easterly  since  leaving  Cape  Cuba,  or 
Guajava,  for  it  had  acted  upon  them  during  a  period 
of  thirty  hours.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
dentity  of  these  keys  with  those  about  Cayo  Ilo 


462 


APPENDIX. 


mano ;  for  they  are  the  only  ones  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Cuba  that  are  not  of  a  low  and  swampy  nature, 
but  large  and  lofty.  They  inclose  a  free,  open 
navigation,  and  abundance  of  fine  harbors,  in  late 
years  the  resort  of  pirates,  who  found  security  and 
concealment  for  themselves  and  their  prizes  in  the 
recesses  of  these  lofty  keys.  From  the  description 
of  Columbus,  the  vessels  must  have  entered  between 
the  islands  of  Baril  and  Pacedon,  and  sailing  along 
Cayo  Romano  on  a  S.  E.  course,  have  reached  in 
another  day  their  old  cruising  ground  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  lesser  Guajava.  Not  only  Columbus  does 
not  tell  us  here  of  his  having  changed  his  anchorage 
amongst  these  keys,  but  his  journal  does  not  even 
mention  his  having  anchored  at  all,  until  the  return 
from  the  ineffectual  search  after  Babeque.  It  is 
clear,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  it  was  not  in 
Port  Principe  that  the  vessels  anchored  on  this  occa- 
sion ;  but  it  could  not  have  been  very  distant,  since 
Columbus  went  from  the  ships  in  his  boats  on  the 
18th  November,  to  place  a  cross  at  its  entrance.  He 
had  probably  seen  the  entrance  from  without,  when 
sailing  east  from  Guajava  on  the  13th  of  November. 
The  identity  of  this  port  with  the  one  now  known  as 
Neuvitas  el  Principe  seems  certain,  from  the  descrip- 
tion of  its  entrance.  Columbus,  it  appears,  did  not 
visit  its  interior. 

On  the  19th  November  the  ships  sailed  again,  in 
quest  of  Babeque.  At  sunset  Port  Principe  bore  S, 
S.  W.  distant  seven  leagues,  and  having  sailed  all 
night  at  N.  E.  by  N.  and  until  ten  o'clock  of  the 
next  day  (20th  November),  they  had  run  a  distance 
of  fifteen  leagues  on  that  course.  The  wind  b.owing 
from  E.  S.  E.,  which  was  the  direction  in  which 
Babeque  was  supposed  to  lie,  and  the  weather  being 
^oul,  Columbus  determined  to  return  to  Port  Prin- 


APPENDIX. 


463 


cipe,  which  was  then  distant  twenty-five  leagues.  He 
did  not  wish  to  go  to  Isabella,  distant  cnly  twelve 
leagues,  lest  the  Indians  whom  he  had  brought  from 
San  Salvador,  which  lay  eight  leagues  from  Isa- 
bella, should  make  their  escape.  Thus,  in  sailing 
N.  E.  by  N.  from  near  Port  Principe,  Columbus  had 
approached  within  a  short  distance  of  Isabella.  That 
island  was  then,  according  to  his  calculations,  thirty- 
seven  leagues  from  Port  Principe  ;  and  San  Salvador 
was  forty-five  leagues  from  the  same  point.  The 
first  differs  but  eight  leagues  from  the  truth,  the  lat- 
ter nine  ;  or  from  the  actual  distance  of  Neuvitas 
el  Principe  from  Isla  Larga  and  San  Salvador. 
Again,  let  us  now  call  to  mind  the  course  m«'\de  by 
Columbus  in  going  from  Isabella  to  Cuba;  it  was 
first  W.  S.  W.,  then  west,  and  afterwards  S.  S.  W. 
Having  consideration  for  the  different  distances  run 
on  each,  these  yield  a  medium  course  not  materially 
different  from  S.  W.  Sailing  then  S,  W.  from  Isa- 
bella, Columbus  had  reached  Port  San  Salvador,  on 
the  coast  of  Cuba.  Making  afterwards  a  course  of  N. 
E.  by  N.  from  off  Port  Principe,  he  was  going  in  the 
direction  of  Isabella.  Hence  we  deduce  that  Port 
San  Salvador,  on  the  coast  of  Cuba,  lay  west  of  Port 
Principe,  and  the  whole  combination  is  thus  bound 
together  and  established.  The  two  islands  seen  by 
Columbus  at  ten  o'clock  of  the  same  20th  Novem- 
ber, must  have  been  some  of  the  keys  which  lie 
west  of  the  Jumentos.  Eunning  back  towards  Port 
Principe,  Columbus  made  it  at  dark,  but  found  that 
he  had  been  carried  to  the  westward  by  the  cur- 
fents.  This  furnishes  a  sufficient  proof  of  the 
strength  of  the  current  in  the  Bahama  channel ;  for 
it  will  be  remembered  that  he  ran  over  to  Cuba  with 
a  fair  wind.  After  contending  for  four  days,  until 
the  '^4th  November,  with  light  winds  against  thf 


464 


APPENDIX, 


force  of  these  currents,  he  arrived  at  length  opposite 
the  le^el  Island  whence  he  had  set  out  the  week  be- 
fore when  going  to  Babeque. 

We  are  thus  accidentally  informed  that  the  point 
from  which  Columbus  started  in  search  of  Babeque 
was  the  same  island  of  Guajava  the  lesser,  wdiich  lies 
west  of  Neuvitas  el  Principe.  Further  :  at  first  Le 
dared  not  enter  into  the  opening  between  the  two 
mountains,  for  it  seemed  as  though  the  sea  broke 
upon  them  ;  but  having  sent  the  boat  ahead,  the  ves- 
sels followed  in  at  S.  W.  and  then  W.  into  a  fine 
harbor.  The  level  island  lay  north  of  it,  and  with 
another  island  formed  a  secure  basin  capable  of 
sheltering  all  the  navy  of  Spain.  This  level  island 
resolves  itself  then  into  our  late  Cape  Cuba,  w^hich 
we  have  supposed  to  be  little  Guajava,  and  the  en- 
trance east  of  it  becomes  identical  with  the  gulf 
above  mentioned  which  lay  between  two  mountains, 
one  of  which  we  have  supposed  the  Alto  de  Juan 
Daune,  and  which  gulf  appeared  to  divide  Cuba  from 
Bohio.  Our  course  now  becomes  a  plain  one.  On 
the  26th  of  November,  Columbus  sailed  from  Santa 
Catalina  (the  name  given  by  him  to  the  port  last  de- 
scribed) at  sunrise,  and  stood  for  the  cape  at  the  S. 
E.  which  he  called  Cabo  de  Pico.  In  this  it  is  easy 
to  recognize  the  high  peak  already  spoken  of  as  the 
Alto  de  Juan  Daune.  Arrived  off  this  he  saw  an- 
other cape,  distant  fifteen  leagues,  and  still  farther 
another  five  leagues  beyond  it,  which  he  called  Cabo 
de  Campana.  The  first  must  be  that  now  known  as 
Point  Padre,  the  second  Point  Mulas  :  their  distances 
from  Alto  de  Juan  Daune  are  underrated;  but  it  re- 
quires no  little  experience  to  estimate  correctly  the 
distance  of  the  bold  headlands  of  Cuba,  as  seen 
through  the  pure  atmosphere  that  surrounds  tne 
Island. 


APPENDIX, 


405 


Having  passed  Point  Mulas  in  the  night,  on  tho 
27th,  Columbus  looked  into  the  deep  bay  that  lies  S. 
E.  of  it,  and  seeing  the  bold  projecting  headland  thai 
makes  out  between  Port  Nipe  and  Port  Banes,  with 
those  deep  bays  on  each  side  of  it,  he  supposed  it  to 
ba  an  arm  of  the  sea  dividing  one  land  from  another 
vrtth  an  island  between  them. 

Having  landed  at  Taco  for  a  short  time,  Columbus 
arrived  in  the  evening  of  the  27th  at  Baracoa,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  Puerto  Santo.  From 
Cabo  del  Pico  to  Puerto  Santo,  a  distance  of  sixty 
leagues,  he  had  passed  no  fewer  than  nine  good  ports 
and  five  rivers  to  Cape  Campana,  and  thence  to 
Puerto  Santo  eight  more  rivers,  each  with  a  good 
port ;  fdl  of  which  may  be  found  on  the  chart  be- 
tween Alto  de  Juan  Daune  and  Baracoa.  By  keep- 
ing near  the  coast  he  had  been  assisted  to  the  S.  E. 
by  the  eddy  current  of  the  Bahama  Channel.  Sailing 
from  Puerto  Santo  or  Baracoa  on  the  4th  of  Decem- 
ber, he  reached  the  extremity  of  Cuba  the  following 
day,  and  striking  off  upon  a  wind  to  the  S.  E.  in 
search  of  Babeque,  which  lay  to  the  N.  E.,  he  came 
in  sight  of  Bohio,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  His- 
paniola. 

On  taking  leave  of  Cuba,  Columbus  tells  us  that 
he  had  coasted  it  a  distance  of  120  leagues.  Allow- 
ing twenty  leagues  of  this  distance  for  his  having  fol- 
lowed the  undulations  of  the  coast,  the  remaining  100 
measured  from  Point  Maysi  fall  exactly  upon  Cabrion 
Key,  which  we  have  supposed  the  western  boundary 
of  his  discoveries. 

The  astronomical  observations  of  Columbus  fonn 
no  objection  to  wdiat  has  been  here  advanced  ;  for  he 
tells  us  that  the  instrument  which  he  made  use  of  ta 
measure  the  meridian  altitudes  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
was  out  of  order  and  not  to  be  depended  upon.  He 
VOL.  Ill  30 


466 


APPENDIX, 


places  bis  first  discovery,  Guanahani,  in  the  latitude 
of  Ferro,  which  is  about  27°  30'  north.  San  Salva- 
dor we  find  in  24*^  30'  and  Turk's  Island  in  21  30'  : 
both  are  very  wide  of  the  truth,  but  it  is  certainly 
easier  to  conceive  an  error  of  three  than  one  of  six 
degrees. 

Laying  aside  geographical  dcunonstration,  let  m 
liow  examine  how  historical  records  agree  with  the 
opinion  here  supported,  that  the  island  of  San  Salva- 
dor was  the  first  point  where  Columbus  came  in  con- 
•act  with  the  New  World.  Herrera,  who  is  considered 
the  most  faithful  and  authentic  of  Spanish  historians, 
wrote  his  History  of  the  Indies  towards  the  year 
1600.  In  describing  the  voyage  of  Juan  Ponce  de 
Leon,  made  to  Florida  in  1512,  he  makes  the  follow- 
ing remarks  :  ^  "  Leaving  Aguada  in  Porto  Kico, 
they  steered  to  the  N.  W.  by  N.,  and  in  five  days  ar- 
rived at  an  island  called  El  Viejo,  in  latitude  22°  30' 
north.  The  next  day  they  arriv  ed  at  a  small  island 
of  the  Lucayos,  called  Caycos.  On  the  eighth  day 
they  anchored  at  another  island  called  Yaguna  in 
24°,  on  the  eighth  day  out  from  I*orto  Kico.  Thence 
they  passed  to  the  island  of  Manuega,  in  24°  30',  and 
on  the  eleventh  day  they  reached  Guanahani,  which 
is  in  25°  40'  north.  This  island  of  Guanahani  was 
tlie  first  discovered  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage, 
and  which  he  called  San  Salvador.'*  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  remarks  of  Heirera,  and  is  entirely 
conclusive  as  to  the  location  of  San  Salvador.  The 
latitudes,  it  is  true,  are  all  placed  higher  than  we  now 
know  them  to  be  ;  that  of  San  Salvador  being  such 
as  to  correspond  with  no  other  land  than  that  now 
known  as  the  Berry  Islands,  which  are  seventy  leagues 
distant  fi:-om  the  nearest  coast  of  Cuba ;  wherc  .is  Co- 
lumbus tells  us  that  San  Salvador  was  only  forty- five 
1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  i.  lib.  ix.  cap.  10. 


APPENDIX. 


467 


leagues  from  Port  Principe.  But  in  those  infant  days 
of  navigation,  the  instruments  for  measuring  the  alti- 
tudes of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  the  tables  of  dec- 
linations for  deducing  the  latitude,  must  have  been 
BO  imperfect  as  to  place  the  most  scientific  navigator 
of  the  time  below  the  most  mechanical  one  of  tha 
present. 

The  second  island  arrived  at  by  Ponce  de  Leon, 
in  his  north-western  course,  was  one  of  the  Caycos  ; 
the  first  one,  then,  called  El  Viejo,  must  have  been 
Turk's  Island,  which  lies  S  E.  of  the  Caycos.  The 
third  island  they  came  to  was  probably  Mariguana  ; 
the  fourth.  Crooked  Island ;  and  the  fifth,  Isla  Larga. 
Lastly  they  came  to  Guanahani,  the  San  Salvador 
of  Columbus.  If  this  be  supposed  identical  with 
Turk's  Island,  where  do  we  find  the  succession  of 
islands  touched  at  by  Ponce  de  Leon  on  his  way 
from  Porto  Rico  to  San  Salvador  ?  ^  No  stress  has 
been  laid,  in  these  remarks,  on  the  identity  of  name 
which  has  been  preserved  to  San  Salvador,  Concep- 
cion,  and  Port  Principe,  with  those  given  by  Colum- 
bus, though  traditional  usage  is  of  vast  weight  in 
such  matters.  Geographical  proof,  of  a  conclusive 
kind  it  is  thought,  has  been  advanced,  to  enable  the 
world  to  remain  in  its  old  hereditary  belief  that  the 
present  island  of  San  Salvador  is  the  spot  where 
Columbus  first  set  foot  upon  the  New  World.  Estab- 
lished opinions  of  the  kind  should  not  be  lightly 
molested.  It  is  a  good  old  rule,  that  ought  to  be 
kept  in  mind  in  curious  research  as  well  as  territo- 
rial dealings,  Do  not  disturb  the  ancient  land- 
marks." 

1  In  the  first  chapter  of  Herrera's  description  of  the  Indies, 
appended  to  his  history,  is  another  scale  of  the  Bahama  Isl- 
ands, which  corroborates  the  above.  It  begins  at  the  oppo- 
uite  end,  at  the  N.  W.,  and  runs  down  to  the  S.  E.  It  is 
thought  unnecessary  to  cite  it  particularly. 


168 


APPENDIX. 


Note  to  the  Revised  Edition  of  J  848.  —  The  Baron  de  Hum- 
boldt, in  his  "  Examen  critique  de  I'llistoire  de  la  Geographic 
du  Nouveau  Continent,"  published  in  1837,  speaks  repeatedly 
in  high  terms  of  the  ability  displayed  in  the  above  exaniina 
iion  of  the  route  of  Columbus,  and  argues  at  great  lengtL 
and  quite  conclusively  in  support  of  the  opinion  contained  in 
it.  Above  all,  he  produces  a  document  hitherto  unknown, 
and  the  great  importance  of  which  had  been  discovered  by 
M.  Valeknaer  and  himself  in  1832.  This  is  a  map  made  in 
L500  by  that  able  mariner  Juan  de  la  Co;.a,  who  accompanied 
Columbus  in  his  second  voyage  and  saikd  with  other  of  the 
discoverers.  In  this  map,  of  which  the  Baron  de  Humboldt 
gives  an  engraving,  the  islands  as  laid  down  agree  completely 
with  the  bearings  and  distances  given  in  the  journal  of  Co- 
lumbus, and  establishes  the  identity  of  San  Salvador,  or  Cat 
Island,  and  Guanahani. 

*'  I  feel  happy,"  says  M.  de  Humboldt,  "to  be  enabled  t<? 
destroy  the  incertitudes  (which  rested  on  this  subject)  by  i 
document  as  ancient  as  it  is  unknown;  a  document  wdiicL 
confirms  irrevocably  the  arguments  which  Mr.  Washington 
Irving  has  given  in  his  work  against  the  hypotheses  of  the 
Turk's  Island." 

In  the  present  revised  edition  the  author  feels  at  liberty  to 
give  the  merit  of  the  very  masterly  paper  on  the  route  of 
Columbus,  where  it  is  justly  due.  It  was  furnished  him  at 
Madrid  by  the  late  commander  Alexander  Slidell  Mackenzie, 
of  the  United  States  navy,  whose  modesty  shrunk  from  af- 
fixing his  name  to  an  article  so  calculated  to  do  him  credit, 
and  which  has  since  challenged  the  high  eulogiums  of  men 
of  nautical  science. 


APPENDIJ!^ 


469 


No.  xvni. 

PRINCIPLES  UrOX  WHICH  THE  SUMS  MENTIONED 
IN  THIS  WORK  HAVE  BEEN  REDUCED  INTO  MOD- 
ERN CURRENCY. 

In  tlie  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  mark 
of  silver,  which  was  equal  to  8  ounces  or  to  50  eas- 
tillanos  was  divided  into  65  reals,  and  each  real  into 
34  maravedis ;  so  that  there  were  2210  maravedis  in 
the  mark  of  silver.  Among  other  silver  coins  there 
was  the  real  of  8,  which  consisting  of  8  reals,  was, 
within  a  small  fraction,  the  eighth  part  of  a  mark  of 
silver,  or  one  ounce.  Of  the  gold  coins  then  in  cir- 
culation the  castillano  or  dohlo  de  la  vanda  was  worth 
490  maravedis,  and  the  ducado  383  maravedis. 

If  the  value  of  the  maravedi  had  remained  un- 
changed in  Spain  down  to  the  present  day,  it  would 
be  easy  to  reduce  a  sum  of  the  time  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  into  a  correspondent  sum  of  current 
,  money ;  but  by  the  successive  depreciations  of  the 
coin  of  Vellon,  or  mixed  metals,  issued  since  that 
period,  the  real  and  maravedi  of  Vellon,  which  had 
replaced  the  ancient  currency,  were  reduced  towards 
the  year  1700,  to  about  a  third  of  the  old  real  and 
maravedi,  now  known  as  the  real  and  maravedi  of 
silver.  As,  however,  the  ancient  piece  of  8  reals 
wa3  equal  approximately  to  the  ounce  of -silver,  and 
the  duro,  or  dollar  of  the  present  day,  is  likewise 
equal  to  an  ounce,  they  may  be  considered  identical 
Indeed,  in  Spanish  America,  the  dollar,  instead  of 
being  divided  into  20  reals,  as  in  Spain,  is  divided 
Into  only  8  parts  called  reals,  which  evidently  rep* 
resent  the  real  of  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Is- 
abella, as  the  dollar  does  the  real  of  8.    But  the 


470 


APPENDIX, 


ounce  of  silver  was  anciently  worth  27G-J-  niaravedis 
the  dollar,  therefore,  is  likewise  equal  to  276^  mara- 
vedis.    By  converting  then  the  sums  mentioned  in 
this  work  into  maravedis,  they  have  been  afterwards 
reduced  into  dollars  by  dividing  by  276|-. 

There  is  still,  however,  another  calculation  to  be 
made,  before  we  can  arrive  at  the  actual  value  of 
any  sum  of  gold  and  silver  mentioned  in  former 
times.  It  is  necessary  to  notice  the  variation  which 
Las  taken  place  in  the  value  of  the  metals  them- 
selves. In  Europe,  previous  to  the  discovery  of  vhe 
New  World,  an  ounce  of  gold  commanded  an  amount 
of  food  or  labor  which  would  cost  three  ounces  at 
the  present  day  ;  hence  an  ounce  of  gold  was  then 
estimated  at  three  times  its  present  value.  At  the 
same  time  an  ounce  of  silver  commanded  an  amount 
which  at  present  costs  4  ounces  of  silver.  It  appears 
from  this,  that  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  varied 
with  respect  to  each  other,  as  well  as  with  respect  to 
all  other  commodities.  This  is  owing  to  there  having 
been  much  more  silver  brought  from  the  New  World, 
with  respect  to  the  quantity  previously  in  circulation,  ^ 
than  there  has  been  of  gold.  In  the  15th  century 
one  ounce  of  gold  was  equal  to  about  12  of  silver; 
and  now,  in  the  year  1827,  it  is  exchanged  against 
16. 

Hence  giving  an  idea  of  the  relative  value  of  the 
Bums  mentioned  in  this  work,  it  has  been  found  nec- 
essary to  multiply  them  by  three  when  in  gold,  and 
by  four  when  expressed  in  silver.^ 

It  is  expedient  to  add  that  the  dollar  is  reckoned 
in  this  work  at  100  cents  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America,  and  four  shillings  and  sixpence  of 
England. 

1  Sec  Caballero  Pesos  y  Medidas.    J  B.  Say,  Economie 
Politique. 


APPENDIX. 


471 


No.  XIX. 

PRESTER  JOHN  : 

Said  to  be  derived  from  the  Persiiin  Prestegani  or 
Perestigani,  which  signifies  apostolique  ;  or  Preschtak* 
GeJiam,  angel  of  the  workl.  It  is  the  name  of  a  po- 
tent Christian  monarch  of  shadowy  renown,  whose 
dominions  were  placed  by  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages 
sometimes  in  the  remote  parts  of  Asia  and  sometimes 
in  Africa,  and  of  whom  such  contradictory  accounts 
were  given  by  the  travellers  of  those  days  that  the 
very  existence  either  of  him  or  his  kingdom  came  to 
be  considered  doubtful.  It  now  appears  to  be  ad- 
mitted, that  there  really  was  such  a  potentate  in  a 
remote  part  of  Asia.  He  was  of  the  Nestorian 
Christians,  a  sect  spread  throughout  Asia,  and  taking 
its  name  and  origin  from  Nestorius,  a  Christian  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople. 

The  first  vague  reports  of  a  Christian  potentate 
in  the  interior  of  Asia,  or  as  it  was  then  called  India, 
were  brought  to  Europe  by  the  Crusaders,  who  it  is 
supposed  gathered  them  from  the  Syrian  merchants 
who  traded  to  the  very  confines  of  China. 

In  subsequent  ages,  when  the  Portuguese  in  their 
travels  and  voyages  discovered  a  Christian  king 
among  the  Abyssinians,  called  Baleel-Gian,  they  con- 
founded him  with  the  potentate  already  spoken  of. 
Nor  was  the  blunder  extraordinary,  since  the  orig- 
inal Prester  John  was  said  to  reign  over  a  remote 
part  of  India ;  and  the  ancients  included  in  that 
name  Ethiopia  and  all  the  regions  of  Africa  and 
Asia  bordering  on  the  Red  Sea  and  on  the  commer- 
cial route  from  Egypt  to  India. 

Of  the  Prester  John  of  India  we  have  reports 


472 


APPENDIX. 


furnlslied  by  William  Ruysbrook,  commonly  called 
Rubruquis,  a  Franciscan  friar  sent  by  Louis  IX. 
about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  con- 
vert the  Grand  Khan.  According  to  him,  Prester 
John  was  originally  a  Nestorian  priest,  who  m  tliQ 
death  of  the  sovereign  mide  himself  king  of  the 
Nay  mans,  all  Nestorian  Christians.  Ca?"pini,  a 
Franciscan  friar,  sent  by  Pope  Innocent  in  1245  to 
convert  the  Mongols  of  Persia,  says,  that  Ocoday, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Genghis  Khan  of  Tartary, 
Jiarched  Avith  an  army  against  the  Christians  of 
Grand  India.  The  king  of  that  country,  who  was 
called  Prester  John,  came  to  their  succor.  Having 
had  figures  of  men  made  of  bronze,  he  had  them 
fastened  on  the  saddles  of  horses,  and  put  fire  within, 
with  a  man  behind  with  a  bellows.  When  they 
came  to  battle  these  horses  were  put  in  the  advance, 
and  the  men  who  were  seated  behind  the  figures, 
threw  something  into  the  fire,  and  blowing  with  their 
bellows,  made  such  a  smoke  that  the  Tartars  were 
quite  covered  with  it.  They  then  fell  on  them,  dis- 
patched many  with  their  arrows,  and  put  the  rest  to 
flight. 

Marco  Polo  (1271)  places  Prester  John  near  the 
great  wall  of  China,  to  the  north  of  Chan-si,  in  Teu- 
dich,  a  populous  region  full  of  cities  and  castles. 

Mandeville  (1332)  makes  Prester  sovereign  of 
Upper  India  (Asia),  with  four  thousand  islands  tribu- 
tary to  him. 

When  John  II.  of  Portugal,  was  pushing  his  dis- 
coveries along  the  African  coast,  he  was  informed 
fchat  350  leagues  to  the  east  of  the  kingdom  of  Benin 
in  the  profound  depths  of  Africa,  there  was  a  puissant 
monarch,  callrd  Ogave,  who  had  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral jurisdiction  over  all  the  surrounding  kings. 

An  African  prince  assured  him,  also,  that  to.  tho 


APPENDIX, 


473 


east  of  Timbuctoo  there  waS  a  sover^ig)i  wlio  pro 
fessed  a  religion  similar  to  that  of  the  Christians,  and 
was  king  of  a  Mosaic  people. 

King  John  now  supposed  he  had  found  traces  of 
the  I'eal  Prester  John,  with  whom  he  was  eager  to 
form  an  alliance  religious  as  well  as  commercial.  In 
1487  he  sent  envoys  by  land  in  quest  of  him.  One 
was  a  gentleman  of  his  household,  Pedro  de  Covil- 
ham  ;  the  other,  Alphonso  de  Palva.  They  went  by 
Naple  to  Khodes,  thence  to  Cairo,  thence  to  Aden 
on  the  Arabian  Gulf  above  the  mouth  of  the  Red 
Sea. 

Here  they  separated  with  an  agreement  to  rendez- 
vous at  Cairo.  Alphonso  de  Paiva  sailed  direct  for 
Ethiopia  ;  Pedro  de  Covilham  for  the  Indies.  The 
latter  passed  to  Calicut  and  Goa,  where  he  embarked 
for  Sofala  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  thence  re- 
turned to  Aden,  and  made  his  way  back  to  Cairo. 
Here  he  learned  that  his  coadjutor,  Alphonso  de 
Paiva,  had  died  in  that  city.  He  found  two  Portu- 
guese  Jews  waiting  for  him  with  fresh  orders  from 
King  John  not  to  give  up  his  researches  after  Prester 
John  until  he  found  him.  One  of  the  Jews  he  sent 
back  with  a  iournal  and  verbal  accounts  of  his  travels. 
With  the  other  he  set  off  again  for  Aden  ;  thence  to 
Ormuz,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  where 
all  the  rich  merchandise  of  the  East  was  brought  to 
be  tra»2sported  thence  by  Syria  and  Egypt  into  Eu- 
rope. 

Having  taken  note  of  everything  here,  he  em- 
barked on  the  Red  Sea,  and  arrived  at  the  court  of 
an  Abyssinian  prince  named  Escander  (the  Arabic* 
version  of  Alexander),  whom  he  considered  the  reaf 
Prester  John.  The  prince  received  him  graciously, 
and  manifested  a  disposition  to  favor  the  object  of  his 
embassy,  but  died  suddenly,  and  his  successor,  Naut, 


471 


APPENDIX. 


refused  to  let  Covllna'm  depart,  but  kept  liim  for 
many  j  ears  about  his  person,  as  his  priaie  councillor, 
lanshing  on  hiui  wealth  and  honors.  After  all,  this 
was  not  the  real  Prester  John  ;  who,  as  has  been  ob 
served,  was  an  Asiatic  potentate. 


No.  XX. 

MARCO  POLO.* 

The  travels  of  Marco  Polo,  or  Paolo,  furnish  a  key 
to  many  parts  of  the  voyages  and  speculations  of 
Columbus,  which  without  it  would  hardly  be  compre- 
hensible. 

Marco  Polo  was  a  native  of  Venice,  who,  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  made  a  journey  into  the  remote, 
and,  at  that  time,  unknown  regions  of  the  East,  and 
filled  all  Christendom  with  curiosity  by  his  account 
of  the  countries  he  had  visited.  He  was  preceded  in 
his  travels  by  his  father  Nicholas  and  his  uncle  Maffeo 
Polo.  These  two  brothers  were  of  an  illustrious  fam- 
ily in  Venice,  and  embarked  about  the  year  1255,  on 
a  commercial  voyage  to  the  East.  Having  traversed 
the  Mediterranean  and  through  the  Bosphorus,  they 
stopped  for  a  short  time  at  Constantinople,  which  city 

1  In  preparing  the  first  edition  of  this  work  for  the  press, 
the  author  had  not  the  benefit  of  the  English  translation  of 
Marco  Polo,  published  a  few  years  since,  with  admirable  com- 
tientaries,  by  William  Marsden,  F.  R.  S.  He  availed  himself, 
principally  of  an  Italian  version  in  the  Venetian  edition  of  Ra- 
niusio  (1606),  the  French  translation  by  Bergeron,  and  an  old 
>nd  very  incorrect  Spanish  translation.  Having  since  pro- 
cured the  work  of  Mr.  Marsden  he  has  made  considerable  al» 
V  rations  in  the?e  notices  of  Marco  Polo. 


APPENDIX. 


475 


^  id  lecently  Ixieii  wrested  from  the  Greeks  by  tlie  joint 
arms  of  France  and  Venice.  Here  they  disposed  of 
their  Italian  merchandise,  and,  having  purchased  a 
stock  of  jewelry,  departed  on  an  adventurous  expe- 
dition to  trade  with  the  western  Tartars,  who,  having 
overrun  many  parts  of  Asia  and  Europe,  were  settling 
and  forming  cities  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Wolga,  Af- 
ter traversing  the  Euxine  to  Soldaia  (at  present 
Sudak),  a  port  in  the  Crimea,  they  continued  on,  by 
land  and  water,  until  they  reached  the  military  court, 
or  rather  camp  of  a  Tartar  prince,  named  Barkah,  a 
descendant  of  Genghis  Khan,  into  whose  hands  they 
confided  all  their  merchandise.  The  barbaric  chief- 
tain, while  he  was  dazzled  by  their  precious  commod- 
ities, was  flattered  by  the  entire  confidemje  in  his 
justice  manifested  by  these  strangers.  He  repaid 
them  with  princely  munificence,  and  loaded  them 
with  favors  during  a  year  that  they  remained  at  his 
court.  A  war  breaking  out  between  their  patron 
and  his  cousin  Hulagu,  chief  of  the  eastern  Tartars, 
and  Barkah  being  defeated,  the  Polos  were  embar- 
rassed how  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  country 
and  return  home  in  safety.  The  road  to  Constant! 
nople  being  cut  off  by  the  enemy,  they  took  a  cir- 
cuitous route,  round  the  head  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and 
through  the  deserts  of  Transoxiana,  until  they  arrived 
in  the  city  of  Bokhara,  where  they  resided  for  three 
years. 

While  here  there  arrived  a  Tartar  nobleman  who 
was  on  an  embassy  from  the  victorious  Hulagu  to  his 
brother  the  Grand  Khan.  The  ambassador  became 
acquainted  with  the  Venetians,  and  finding  them  to 
Ve  versed  in  the  Tartar  tongue  and  possessed  of 
curious  and  valuable  knowledge  he  prevailed  upon 
them  to  accompany  him  to  the  court  of  the  emperor, 
lituated,  as  they  supposed,  at  the  very  extremity  of 
the  East. 


47G 


APPENDIX, 


After  a  march  of  several  months,  being  deliyed  by 
snow-storms  and  inundations,  they  arrived  at  the 
court  of  Cublal,  otherwise  calbd  the  Great  Khan, 
whfch  signifies  King  of  Kings,  being  the  sovereign 
potentate  of  the  Tartars.  This  magnificent  prince 
received  them  with  great  distinction  ;  he  made  in- 
quiries  about  the  countries  and  princes  of  the  West, 
their  civil  and  military  government,  and  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  Latin  nation.  Above  all,  he 
was  curious  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian  religion. 
He  was  so  much  struck  by  their  replies,  that  after 
holding  a  council  with  the  chief  persons  of  his  king- 
dom, he  entreated  the  two  brothers  to  go  on  his 
part  as  ambassadors  to  the  pope,  to  entreat  him  to 
send  a  hundred  learned  men  well  instructed  in 
the  Christian  faith,  to  impart  a  knowledge  of  it  to 
the  sages  of  his  empire.  He  also  entreated  them  to 
bring  him  a  little  oil  from  the  lamp  of  our  Saviour, 
in  Jerusalem,  which  he  concluded  must  have  mar- 
velous virtues.  It  has  been  supposed,  and  with 
great  reason,  that  under  this  covert  of  religion,  the 
shrewd  Tartar  sovereign  veiled  motives  of  a  political 
nature.  The  influence  of  the  pope  in  promoting  the 
crusades  had  caused  his  power  to  be  known  and  re- 
spected throughout  the  East ;  it  was  of  some  moment, 
therefore,  to  conciliate  his  good  will.  Cublai  Khan 
had  no  bigotry  nor  devotion  to  any  particular  faith, 
and  probably  hoped,  by  adopting  Christianity  to 
make  it  a  common  cause  between  himself  and  the 
warlike  princes  of  Christendom,  against  his  and  their 
inveterate  enemies,  the  soldan  of  Egypt  and  the 
Saracens. 

Having  written  letters  to  the  pope  in  the  Tartai 
language,  he  delivered  them  to  the  Polos,  ind 
appointed  one  of  the  principal  noblemen  of  hu 
court  to  accompany  them  in  their  mission.  Or 


APPENDIX. 


All 


their  Lakli  g  leave  lie  furnished  them  with  a  tablet 
of  gold  on  which  was  engraved  the  rojal  arms ;  tliifi 
was  to  serve  as  a  passport,  at  sight  of  which  the 
jQ;overnors  of  the  various  provinces  were  to  entertain 
them,  to  fui-nish  them  with  escorts  through  danger- 
ous places,  and  render  them  all  other  necessary  ser- 
vices at  the  expense  of  the  Great  Khan.  • 

They  had  scarce  proceeded  twenty  miles,  when 
the  nobleman  who  accompanied  them  fell  ill,  and 
they  were  obliged  to  leave  him,  and  continue  on 
their  route.  Their  golden  passport  procured  them 
every  attention  and  facility  throughout  the  dominions 
of  the  Great  Khan.  They  arrived  safely  at  Acre,  in 
April,  1269.  Here  they  received  news  of  the  recent 
death  of  pope  Clement  IV.,  at  which  they  were 
much  grieved,  fearing  it  would  cause  delay  in  their 
n^ission.  There  was  at  that  time  in  Acre  a  legate 
of  the  holy  chair,  Tebaldo  di  Vesconti,  of  Placentia, 
to  whom  they  gave  an  account  of  thjir  embassy. 
He  heard  them  with  great  attention  and  interest, 
and  advised  them  to  await  the  election  of  a  new 
pope,  which  must  soon  take  place,  before  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome  on  their  mission.  They  determined 
in  the  interim  to  make  a  visit  to  their  families,  and 
accordingly  departed  for  Negropont,  and  thence  to 
Venice,  where  great  changes  had  taken  place  in 
their  domestic  concerns,  during  their  long  absence. 
The  wife  of  Nicholas,  whom  he  had  left  pregnant, 
had  died,  in  giving  birth  to  a  son,  who  had  been 
nam  3d  Marco. 

As  the  contested  election  for  the  new  pontiff  re- 
mained pending  for  two  years,  they  were  uneasy, 
'est  the  emperor  of  Tartary  should  grow  impatient 
at  so  long  a  postponement  of  the  conversion  of  him* 
self  and  his  people  ;  they  determined,  therefore,  not 
to  wait  the  election  of  a  pope,  but  to  proceed  to 


478 


APPENDIX, 


Acre,  and  get  such  dispatches  and  such  ghofetly  miL* 
istry  for  the  Grand  Khan,  as  the  legate  could  fur^ 
nish.  On  the  second  journey  Nicholas  Polo  took 
with  him  his  son  Marco,  who  afterwards  wrote  an 
account  of  these  travels. 

They  were  again  received  with  great  favor  by  the 
legate  Tebaldo,  who,  anxious  for  the  success  of  their 
mission,  furnished  them  with  letters  to  the  Grand 
Khan,  in  which  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith 
were  fully  expounded.  With  these,  and  with  a 
supply  of  the  holy  oil  from  the  sepulchre,  they  once 
more  set  out  in  September,  1271,  for  the  remote  parts 
of  Tartary.  They  had  not  long  departed,  when 
missives  arrived  from  Rome,  informing  the  legate  of 
his  own  election  to  the  holy  chair.  He  took  the 
name  of  Gregory  X.,  and  decreed  that  in  future,  on 
the  death  of  a  pope,  the  cardinals  should  be  shut  up 
in  conclave  until  they  elected  a  successor;  a  wise 
regulation,  which  has  since  continued,  enforcing  a 
prompt  decision,  and  preventing  intrigue. 

Immediately  on  receiving  intelligence  of  his  elec- 
tion, he  despatched  a  courier  to  the  king  of  Armenia, 
requesting  that  the  two  Venetians  might  be  sent 
back  to  him,  if  they  had  not  departed.  They  joy- 
fully returned,  and  were  furnished  with  new  letters 
to  the  Khan.  Two  eloquent  friars,  also,  Nicholas 
Vincenti  and  Gilbert  de  Tripoli,  were  sent  with 
tiiem,  with  powers  to  ordain  priests  and  bishops  and 
to  grant  absolution.  They  had  presents  of  crystal 
vases,  and  other  costly  articles  to  deliver  to  the  Grand 
Khan  ;  and  thus  well  provided,  they  once  more  sot 
forth  on  their  journey.^ 

Arriving  in  Armenia,  they  ran  great  risk  of  'heir 
fives  from  the  war  which  was  raging,  the  soldsji  of 
Babylon  having  invaded  the  country.  They  took 
1  Ramusio,  torn.  iii. 


APPENDIX. 


479 


hdfugft  for  some  time  with  the  superior  of  a  monas 
tery.  Here  the  two  reverend  fathers,  losing  all 
courage  to  prosecute  so  perilous  an  enterprise,  de- 
termined to  remain,  and  the  Venetians  3ontinued 
their  journey.  They  were  a  long  time  on  the  way, 
and  exposed  to  great  hardships  and  sufferings  from 
floods  and  snow-storms,  it  being  the  winter  season. 
At  length  they  reached  a  town  in  the  dominions  of 
the  Khan.  That  potentate  sent  officers  to  meet 
them  at  forty  days'  distance  from  the  court,  and  to 
provide  quarters  for  them  during  their  journey.^ 
He  received  them  with  great  kindness,  was  highly 
gratified  with  the  result  of  their  mission  and  with 
the  letters  of  the  pope,  and  having  received  from 
them  some  oil  from  the  lamp  of  the  holy  sepulchre^ 
he  had  it  locked  up,  and  guarded  it  as  a  precious 
treasure. 

The  three  Venetians,  father,  brother,  and  son,  were 
treated  with  such  distinction  by  the  Khan,  that  the 
courtiers  were  filled  with  jealousy.  Marco  soon, 
however,  made  himself  popular,  and  was  particularly 
esteemed  by  the  emperor.  He  acquired  the  four 
principal  languages  of  the  country,  and  was  of  such 
remarkable  capacity,  that,  notwithstanding  his  youth, 
the  Khan  employed  him  in  missions  and  services  of 
importance,  in  various  parts  of  his  dominions,  some 
to  the  distance  of  even  six  months'  journey.  On 
these  expeditions  he  was  industrious  in  gathering  all 
kinds  of  information  respecting  that  vast  empire ; 
and  from  notes  and  minutes  made  for  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Grand  Khan,  he  afterwards  composed  the  bis 
tory  of  his  travels. 

1  Bergeron,  by  blunder  in  the  translation  from  the  original 
Latin,  has  stated  that  the  Khan  sent  40,000  men  to  escort 
them.  This  has  drawn  the  ire  of  the  critics  upon  Marco 
Polo,  who  have  cited  it  as  one  of  his  monstrous  exaggera- 
tions. 


480 


APPENDIX, 


After  about  seventeen  years  residence  in  the  Tar- 
tar  court  the  Venetians  felt  a  longing  to  return  to 
their  native  country.  Their  patron  was  advanced 
in  age  and  could  not  survive  much  longer,  and  aftei 
his  death,  their  return  might  be  ditficult  if  not  im- 
possible. They  applied  to  the  Grand  Khan  for  per- 
mission to  depart,  but  for  a  time  met  with  a  refusal, 
accompanied  by  friendly  upbraidings.  At  length  a 
Bingular  train  of  events  operated  in  their  favor  ;  an 
embassy  arrived  from  a  Mogul  Tartar  prince,  who 
ruled  in  Persia,  and  who  was  grand-nephew  to  the 
emperor.  The  object  was  to  entreat,  as  a  spouse,  a 
princess  of  the  imperial  lineage.  A  granddaughter 
of  Cublai  Khan,  seventeen  years  of  .age,  and  of 
great  beauty  and  accomplishments,  was  granted  to 
the  prayer  of  the  prince,  and  departed  for  Persia 
with  the  ambassadors,  and  with  a  splendid  retinue, 
but  after  travelling  for  some  months,  was  obliged  to 
return  on  a(  ^ount  of  the  distracted  state  of  the 
country. 

The  ambassador  despaired  of  conveying  the  beau- 
tiful bride  to  the  arms  of  her  expecting  bridegroom, 
when  Marco  Polo  returned  from  a  voyage  to  certain 
of  the  Indian  islands.  His  representations  of  the 
safety  of  a  voyage  in  those  seas,  and  his  private 
instigations,  induced  the  ambassadors  to  urge  the 
Grand  Khan  for  permission  to  convey  the  princess 
by  sea  to  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  and  that  the  Christiana 
might  accompany  them,  as  being  best  experienced 
in  maritime  affairs.  Cublai  Khan  consented  with 
gieat  reluctance,  and  a  splendid  fleet  was  fitted 
out  and  victualed  for  two  years,  consisting  of  four- 
tsen  ships  of  four  masts,  some  of  which  had  crews 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

On  parting  with  the  Venetians  the  muiuficent 
Khan  gave  them  rich  presents  of  jewels,  and  made 


APPENDIX, 


481 


til  em  promise  lo  return  to  him  after  they  had  visited 
their  families.  He  authorized  them  to  act  as  his 
ambassadors  to  the  principal  courts  of  Europe^  and, 
as  on  a  former  occasion,  furnished  them  with  tablets 
of  gold,  to  serve,  not  merely  as  passports,  but  as 
orders  upon  all  commanders  in  his  territories  for  ac 
commodations  and  supplies. 

They  set  sail  therefore  in  the  fleet  with  the  Ori 
ental  pi-lncess  and  her  attendants  and  the  Persian 
ambassadors.  The  ships  swept  along  the  coast  of 
Cochin  China,  stopped  for  three"  months  at  a  port  of 
the  island  of  Sumatra  near  the  western  entrance  of 
the  Straits  of  Malacca,  waiting  for  the  change  of  the 
monsoon  to  pass  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  Traversing  this 
vast  expanse  they  touched  at  the  island  of  Ceylon 
and  then  crossed  the  strait  to  the  southern  part  of 
the  great  peninsula  of  India.  Thence  sailing  up  the 
Pirate  coast,  as  it  is  called,  the  fleet  entered  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  and  arrived  at  the  famous  port  of  Ormuz, 
where  it  is  presumed  the  voyage  terminated,  after 
eighteen  months  spent  in  traversing  the  Indian  seas. 

Unfortunately  for  the  royal  bride  who  was  the  ob- 
ject of  this  splendid  naval  expedition,  her  bride- 
groom, the  Mogul  king,  had  died  some  time  before 
her  arrival,  leaving  a  son  named  Ghazan,  during 
whose  minority  the  government  was  administered  by 
his  uncle  Kai-Khatu.  According  to  the  directions 
of  the  regent,  the  princess  was  delivered  to  the 
youthful  prince,  son  of  her  intended  spouse.  Ho 
was  at  that  time  at  the  head  of  an  army  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Persia.  He  was  of  a  diminutive  stature  but 
of  a  great  soul,  and,  on  afterwards  ascending  the 
throne,  acquired  renown  for  his  talents  and  virtues- 
What  became  of  the  Eastern  bride,  who  had  trav- 
fjlled  so  far  in  quest  of  a  husband,  is  not  known ;  but 
vol  III.  31 


482 


APPENDIX, 


everything  favorable  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  chai^ 
acter  of  Ghazan. 

The  Polos  remained  some  time  in  the  court  of  the 
regent,  and  then  departed,  with  fresh  tablets  of  gold 
given  by  that  prince,  to  carry  them  in  safety  and 
honor  through  his  dominions.  As  they  had  io  trav- 
erse many  countries  where  the  traveller  is  exposed  to 
extreme  peril,  they  appeared  on  their  journeys  as 
Tartars  of  low  condition,  having  converted  all  their 
wealth  into  precious  stones  and  sewn  them  up  in  the 
folds  and  linings  of  their  coarse  garments.  They 
had  a  long,  difficult  and  perilous  journey  to  Trebi- 
zond,  whence  they  proceeded  to  Constantinople, 
thence  to  Negropont,  and,  finally,  to  Venice,  where 
they  arrived  in  1295,  in  good  health,  and  literally 
laden  with  riches.  Having  heard  during  their  jour- 
ney of  the  death  of  their  old  benefactor  Cublai 
Khan,  they  considered  their  diplomatic  functions  at 
an  end,  and  also  that  they  were  absolved  from  th-eir 
promise  to  return  to  his  dominions. 

Eamusio,  in  his  preface  to  the  narrative  of  Marco 
Polo,  gives  a  variety  of  particulars  concerning  theii 
arrival,  which  he  compares  to  that  of  Ulysses 
When  they  arrived  at  Venice,  they  were  known  bji 
nobody.  So  many  years  had  elapsed  since  their  de- 
parture without  any  tidings  of  them,  that  they  were 
either  forgotten  or  considered  dead.  Besides,  their 
foreign  garb,  the  influence  of  southern  suns,  and  the 
similitude  which  men  acquire  to  those  among  whom 
they  reside  for  any  length  of  time,  had  given  them 
the  look  of  Tartars  rather  than  Italians. 

They  repaired  to  their  own  house,  which  was  a 
noble  palace,  situated  in  the  street  of  St.  Giovanne 
Chrisostomo,  and  was  afterwards  known  by  the  name 
of  la  Corte  de  la  Milione.  They  found  several  of 
their  relatives  still  inhabiting  it ;  but  they  were  sIotv 


APPENDIX. 


483 


in  recollecting  the  travellers,  not  knowing  of  theif 
wealth,  and  probably  considering  them,  from  their 
coarse  and  foreign  attire,  poor  adventurers  returned 
to  be  a  charge  upon  their  families.  The  Polos,  how- 
ever, took  an  effectual  mode  of  quickening  the 
memories  of  their  friends,  and  insuring  themselves 
a  loving  reception.  They  invited  them  all  to  a 
grand  banquet.  When  their  guests  arrived,  they 
received  them  richly  dressed  in  garments  of  crimson 
Batin  of  Oriental  fashion.  When  water  had  been 
served  for  the  washing  of  hands,  and  the  company 
were  summoned  to  table,  the  travellers,  who  had  re- 
tired, appeared  again  in  still  richer  robes  of  crimson 
damask.  The  first  dresses  were  cut  up  and  distribu- 
ted among  the  servants,  being  of  such  length  that 
they  swept  the  ground,  which,  says  Ramusio,  was  the 
mode  in  those  days  with  dresses  worn  within  doors. 
After  the  first  course,  they  again  retired  and  came  in 
dressed  in  crimson  velvet;  the  damask  dresses  being 
likewise  given  to  the  domestics,  and  the  same  was 
done  at  the  end  of  the  feast  with  their  velvet  robes, 
when  they  •  appeared  in  the  Venetian  dress  of  the 
day.  The  guests  were  lost  in  astonishment,  and 
could  not  comprehend  the  meaning  of  this  masquer- 
ade. Having  dismissed  all  the  attendants,  Marco 
Polo  brought  forth  the  coarse  Tartar  dresses  in  which 
they  had  arrived.  Slashing  them  in  several  places 
with  a  knife,  and  ripping  open  the  seams  and  lining, 
there  tumbled  forth  rubies,  sapphires,  emeralds,  dia- 
monds, and  other  precious  stones,  until  the  whole 
table  glittered  with  inestimable  wealth,  acquired 
from  the  munificence  of  the  Grand  Khan,  and  con- 
veyed in  this  portable  form  through  the  perils  of 
their  long  journey. 

The  company,  observes  R-amusio,  were  out  of  theii 
wits  with  amazement,  and  now    clearly  perceived 


484 


APPENDIX. 


what  tliey  had  at  first  doubted,  that  these  in  very 
truth  were  those  lionored  and  valiant  gentlemen  the 
Polos,  and,  accordingly,  paid  them  great  respect  and 
reverence. 

The  account  of  this  curioiis  feast  is  'given  by  Ka- 
niusio,  on  traditional  authority,  having  heard  it  many 
times  related  by  the  illustrious  Gasparo  Malipiero,  a 
very  ancient  gentleman,  and  a  senator,  of  unques- 
tionable veracity,  who  had  it  from  his  father,  who 
had  it  from  his  grandfather,  and  so  on  up  to  the  foun- 
tain-head. 

When  the  fame  of  this  banquet  and  of  the  wealth 
of  the  travellers  came  to  be  divulged  throughout 
Venice,  all  the  city,  noble  and  simple,  crowded  to 
do  honor  to  the  extraordinary  meri^  of  the  Polos. 
Maffeo,  who  was  the  eldest,  was  admitted  to  the  dig- 
nity of  the  magistracy.  The  youth  of  the  city  came 
every  day  to  visit  and  converse  with  Marco  Polo, 
who  was  extremely  amiable  and  communicative. 
They  were  insatiable  in  their  inquiries  about  Cathay 
and  the  Grand  Khan,  which  he  answered  with  great 
courtesy,  giving  details  with  which  they  were  vastly 
delighted,  and,  as  he  always  spoke  of  the  wealtli  of 
the  Grand  Khan  in  round  numbers,  they  g^ve  him 
the  name  of  Messer  Marco  Milioni. 

Some  months  after  their  return,  Lampa  Doria, 
commander  of  the  Genoese  navy,  appeared  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  island  of  Curzola  with  seventy  galleys. 
Andrea  Dandolo,  the  Venetian  admiral,  v^s  sent 
against  him.  Marco  Polo  commanded  a  galley  of 
the  fleet.  His  usual  good  fortune  deserted  him. 
Advancing  the  first  in  the  line  with  his  galley,  and 
not  being  properly  seconded,  he  was  taken  prisoner, 
thrown  in  irons,  and  carried  to  Genoa.  Here  he 
was  detained  for  a  long  time  in  prison,  and  all  ofiers 
of  ransom  rejected.    His  imprisonment  gave  great 


APPEND.l. 


485 


aneasiness  to  his  father  and  uncle,  fearing  that  he 
might  never  return.  Seeing  themselves  in  this  un 
happy  state,  with  so  much  treasure  and  no  heirs, 
they  consulted  together.  They  were  both  very  old 
men  ;  but  Nicolo,  observes  Ramusio,  was  of  a  gal- 
liard  complexion  :  it  was  determined  he  should  take 
a  wife.  He  did  so ;  and,  to  the  wonder  of  hig 
friends,  in  four  years  had  three  children. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  fame  of  Marco  Polo's  trav- 
els had  circulated  in  Genoa.  His  prison  was  daily 
crowded  with  nobility,  and  he  was  supplied  with 
everything  that  could  cheer  him  in  his  confinement. 
A.  Genoese  gentleman,  who  visited  him  every  day,  at 
length  prevailed  upon  him  to  write  an  account  of 
what  he  had  seen.  He  had  his  papers  and  journals 
sent  to  him  from  Venice,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
his  friend,  or,  as  some  will  have  it,  his  fellow-prisoner, 
produced  the  work  which  afterwards  made  such 
noise  throughout  the  world. 

The  merit  of  Marco  Polo  at  length  procured  him 
his  liberty.  He  returned  to  Venice,  where  he  found 
his  father  with  a  house  full  of  children.  He  took  it 
in  good  part,  followed  the  old  man's  example,  mar- 
ried, and  had  two  daughters,  Moretta  and  Fantina. 
The  date  of  the  death  of  Marco  Polo  is  unknown  ; 
he  is  supposed  to  have  been,  at  the  time,  about  sev- 
enty years  of  age.  On  his  death-bed  he  is  said  to 
have  been  exhoited  by  his  friends  to  retract  what 
he  had  published,  or,  at  least,  to  disavow  those 
parts  commonly  regarded  as  fictions.  He  replied 
indignantly  that  so  far  from  having  exaggerated,  he 
\iad  not  told  one  half  of  the  extraordinary  things 
pf  which  he  had  been  an  eye-witness. 

Marco  Polo  died  without  male  issue.  Of  the 
three  sons  of  his  father  by  the  second  marriage,  on« 
)uly  had  children,  viz. :  five  sons  and  one  daughter 


486 


APPENDIX, 


The  sons  died  without  leaving  issue  ;  the  daughter 
inherited  all  her  father's  wealth  and  married  into  the 
noble  and  distinguished  house  of  Trevesino.  Thus 
the  male  line  of  the  Polos  ceased  in  1417,  and  the 
iamily  name  was  extinguished. 

Such  are  the  principal  particulars  known  of  Marco 
Polo ;  a  man  whose  travels  for  a  long  time  made  a 
great  noise  in  Europe,  and  will  be  found-  to  have  had 
a  great  effect  on  modern  discovery.  His  splendid 
account  of  the  extent,  wealth,  and  population  of  the 
Tartar  territories  filled  every  one  with  admiration. 
The  possibility  of  bringing  all  those  regions  under 
the  dominion  of  the  Church,  and  rendering  the  Grand 
Khan  an  obedient  vassal  to  the  holy  chair,  was  for  a 
long  time  a  favorite  topic  among  the  enthusiastic 
missionaries  of  Christendom,  and  there  were  many 
Baints-errant  who  undertook  to  effect  the  conversion 
of  this  magnificent  infidel. 

Even  at  the  distance  of  two  centuries,  when  the 
enterprises  for  the  discovery  of  the  ne  w  route  to 
India  had  set  all  the  warm  heads  of  Europe  mad- 
ding about  these  remote  regions  of  the  East,  the  con- 
version of  the  Grand  Khan  became  again  a  popular 
theme;  and  it  was  too  speculative  and  romantic  an 
enterprise  not  to  catch  the  vivid  imagination  of 
Columbus.  In  all  his  voyages,  he  will  be  found  con- 
tinually to  be  seeking  after  the  territories  of  the 
Grand  Khan,  and  even  after  his  last  expedition, 
when  nearly  worn  out  by  age,  hardships,  and  infirm- 
ities, he  offered,  in  a  letter  to  the  Spanish  monarchs, 
written  from  a  bed  of  sickness,  to  conduct  any  mis- 
sionary to  the  territories  of  the  Tartar  emperor,  who 
would  undertake  his  conversion. 


APPENDIX. 


487 


No.  XXI. 

THE   WORK  OF  MARCO  POLO. 

The  work  of  Marco  Polo  is  stated  by  some  to  havf 
been  originally  written  in  Latin/  thou^gh  the  most 
probable  opinion  is  that  it  was  written  in  the  Vene- 
tian dialect  of  the  Italian.  Copies  of  it  in  manu- 
script were  multiplied  and  rapidly  circulated ;  trans- 
lations were  made  into  various  languages,  until  the 
invention  of  printing  enabled  it  to  be  widely  diffused 
throughout  Europe.  In  the  course  of  these  transla- 
tions and  successive  editions,  the  original  text,  accord- 
ing to  Purchas,  has  been  much  vitiated,  and  it  is 
probable  many  extravagances  in  numbers  and  meas- 
urements with  which  Marco  Polo  is  charged  may  be 
the  errors  of  translators  and  printers. 

When  the  work  first  appeared,  it  was  considered 
by  some  as  made  up  of  fictions  and  extravagances, 
and  Vossius  assures  us  that  even  after  the  death  of 
Marco  Polo  he  continued  to  be  a  subject  of  ridicule 
among  the  light  and  unthinking,  insomuch  that  he 
was  frequently  personated  at  masquerades  by  some 
wit  or  droll,  who,  in  his  feigned  character,  related  all 
kinds  of  extravagant  fables  and  adventures.  His 
work,  however,  excited  great  attention  among  think- 
ing men,  containing  evidently  a  fund  of  information 
concerning  vast  and  splendid  countries,  before  un- 
known to  the  European  world.  Yossius  assures  us 
that  it  was  at  one  time  highly  esteemed  by  the 
learned.  Francis  Pepin,  author  of  the  Branden- 
burgh  version,  styles  Polo  a  man  commendable  for 
his  piety,  prudence,  and  fidelity.  Athanasius  Kir- 
cher,  in  his  account  of  Chin.i,  says  that  none  of  the 
1  Hist  dea  '"'oyages,  torn,  xxvii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  3  Paris,  1549. 


188 


APPEND^  X, 


.  ancients  have  described  the  kingdoms  of  the  remote 
East  with  more  exactness.  Various  other  learnefl 
"  men  of  past  times,  have  borne  testimony  to  his  char- 
acter, and  most  of  the  substantial  parts  of  his  work 
have  been  authenticated  by  subsequent  traveliei  £♦ 
The  most  able  and  ample  vindication  of  Marco  Polo, 
however,  is  to  be  found  in  the  English  translation  of 
his  work,  with  copious  notes  and  commentaries,  by 
William  Marsden,  F.  R.  S.  He  has  diligently  dis- 
criminated  between  what  Marco  Polo  relates  from  his 
own  observation,  and  what  he  relates  as  gathered  from 
others  ;  he  points  out  the  errors  that  have  arisen  from 
misinterpretations,  omissions,  or  interpretation  of 
translators,  and  he  claims  all  proper  allowance  for  the 
superstitious  coloring  of  parts  of  the  narrative  from 
the  belief,  prevalent  among  the  most  wise  and  learned 
of  his  day,  in  miracles  and  magic.  After  perusing 
the  work  of  Mr.  Marsden,  the  character  of  Marco 
Polo  rises  in  the  estimation  of  the  reader.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  his  narration,  as  far  as  related  from  his  own 
observations,  is  correct,  and  that  he  had  really  trav- 
ersed a  great  part  of  Tartary  and  China,  and  navi- 
gated in  the  Indian  seas.  Some  of  the  countries  and 
many  of  the  islands,  however,  are  evidently  described 
from  accounts  given  by  others,  and  in  these  accounts 
are  generally  found  the  fables  which  have  excited  in- 
credulity and  ridicule.  As  he  composed  his  work 
after  his  return  home,  partly  from  memory  and  partly 
from  memorandums,  he  was  liable  to  confuse  what 
he  had  heard  with  what  he  had  seen,  and  thus  to 
give  undue  weight  to  many  fables  and  exaggerations 
which  he  had  received  from  others. 

Much  has  been  said  of  a  map  brought  from  Cathay 
by  Marco  Polo,  which  was  conserved  in  the  convent 
^f  San  Michale  de  Murano  in  the  vicinity  of  Venice, 
and  in  which  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  island 


APPENDIX, 


489 


of  Madagascar  were  indicated  ;  countries  ,vhich  the 
Portuo-uese  claim  the  merit  of  having;  discovered  two 
centuries  afterwards.  It  has  been  suggested  also  that 
Columbus  had  visited  the  convent  and  examined  this 
map,  whence  he  derived  some  of  his  ideas  concerning 
the  coast  of  India.  According  to  Ramusio,  however, 
who  had  been  at  the  convent,  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  prior,  the  map  preserved  there  was  one  copied 
by  a  friar  from  the  original  one  of  Marco  Polo,  and 
many  alterations  and  additions  had  since  been  made 
by  other  hands,  so  that  for  a  long  time  it  lost  all 
credit  with  judicious  people,  until  on  comparing  it 
with  the  work  of  Marco  Polo  it  was  found  in  the 
main  to  agree  with  his  descriptions.-^  The  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  was  doubtless  among  the  additions  made 
subsequent  to  the  discoveries  of  the  Portuguese.'-^ 
Columbus  makes  no  mention  of  this  map,  which  he 
most  probably  would  have  done  had  he  seen  it.  He 
sviems  to  have  been  entirely  guided  by  the  one  fur- 
nished by  Paulo  Toscanelli,  and  which  was  apparently 
projected  after  the  original  map,  or  after  the  descrip- 
tions of  Marco  Polo,  and  the  maps  of  Ptolemy. 

When  the  attention  of  the  world  was  turned 
towards  the  remote  parts  of  Asia  in  the  15th  century, 
and  the  Portuguese  were  making  their  attempts  to 
circumnavigate  Africa,  the  narration  of  Marco  Polo 
again  rose  to  notice.  This,  with  the  travels  of  Nicolo 
le  Comte,  the  Venetian,  and  of  Hieronimo  da  San 

1  Ramusio,  vol.  ii.  p.  17. 

2  Mr.  Marsdea,  who  has  inspected  a  splendid  fac-siniile  cf 
this  map  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  objects  even  to  the 
fundamental  part  of  it:  ''where,"  he  observes,  "situations 
are  given  to  places  that  seem  quite  inconsistent  with  the  de* 
fcCriptioHS  in  the  travels  and  cannot  be  attributed  to  their 
'  uthor,  although  inserted  on  the  supposed  authority  of  hia 
writings."    Marsden's  M.  Polo,  Introd.  p.  xlii. 


490 


APPENDIX. 


Stefano,  a  Genoese,  are  said  to  have  been  the  pniv 
L'ipal  lights  by  which  the  Portuguese  guided  them- 
selves in  their  voyages. -"^ 

Above  all,  the  influence  which  the  work  of  Marco 
Polo  had  over  the  mind  of  Columbus,  gives  it  partic- 
ular interest  and  importance.  It  was  evidently  an 
oracular  work  with  him.  He  frequently  quotes  it,  and 
on  his  voyages,  supposing  himself  to  be  on  the  Asiatic 
coast,  he  is  continually  endeavoring  to  discover  the 
islands  and  main-lands  described  in  it,  and  to  find  the 
famous  Cipango. 

It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  specify  some  of  those 
places,  and  the  nicinner  in  which  they  are  described 
by  a  Venetian  traveller  that  the  reader  may  more 
fully  understand  the  anticipations  which  were  haunt- 
ing the  mind  of  Columbus  in  his  voyages  among  the 
West  Indian  islands,  and  along  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma. 

The  winter  residence  of  the  Great  Khan,  accord- 
ing to  Marco  Polo,  was  in  the  city  of  Cambalu,  or 
Kanbalu  (since  ascertained  to  be  Pekin),  in  the 
province  of  Cathay.  This  city,  he  says,  was  twenty- 
four  miles  square,  and  admirably  built.  It  was  im- 
possible, according  to  Marco  Polo,  to  describe  the 
vast  amount  and  variety  of  merchandise  and  manu- 
factures brought  there;  it  would  seem  they  were 
enough  to  furnish  the  universe.  "  Here  are  to  be 
seen  in  wonderful  abundance  the  precious  stones,  the 
pearls,  the  silks,  and  the  diverse  perfumes  of  the  East ; 
miarce  a  day  passes  that  there  does  not  arrive  nearly 
a  thousand  cars  laden  with  silk,  of  which  they  make 
admirable  stuffs  in  this  city." 

The  palace  of  the  Great  Khan  is  magnificently 
bailt,  and  four  miles  in  circuit.  It  is  rather  a  group 
of  palaces.  In  the  interior  it  is  resplendent  with  gold 
2>  Hist,  des  Voyages,  torn.  xl.  lib.  xi.  ch.  4. 


APPENDIX. 


491 


and  silver  ;  and  in  it  are  guarded  the  precious  vasea 
and  jewels  of  the  sovereign.  All  the  appointments 
ol*  the  Khan  for  war,  for  the  chase,  for  various  festiv- 
ities, are  described  in  gorgeous  terms.  But  though 
Marco  Polo  is  magnificent  in  his  description  of  the 
provinces  of  Cathay,  and  its  imperial  city  of  Cam- 
balu,»he  outdoes  himself  when  he  comes  to  describe 
the  province  of  Mangi.  This  province  is  supposed 
to  be  the  southern  part  of  China.  It  contains,  he 
gays,  twelve  hundred  cities.  The  capital,  Quinsai, 
(supposed  to  be  the  city  of  Hang-cheu),  was  twenty- 
five  miles  from  the  sea,  but  communicated  by  a  river 
with  a  port  situated  on  the  sea-coast,  and  had  great 
trade  with  India. 

The  name  Quinsai,  according  to  Marco  Polo,  sig- 
nifies the  city  of  heaven  ;  he  says  he  has  been  in  it 
and  examined  it  dihgently,  and  affirms  it  to  be  the 
largest  in  the  world  ;  and  so  undoubtedly  it  is  if  the 
measurement  of  the  traveller  is  to  be  taken  literally, 
for  he  declares  that  it  is  one  hundred  miles  in  circuit. 
This  seeming  exaggeration  has  been  explained  by 
supposing  him  to  mean  Chinese  miles  or  Zi,  which  are 
to  the  Italian  miles  in  the  proportion  of  three  to 
eight ;  and  Mr.  Marsden  observes  that  the  walls  even 
of  the  modern  city,  the  limits  of  which  have  been 
considerably  contracted,  are  estimated  by  travellers 
at  sixty  The  ancient  city  has  evidently  been  of 
immense  extent,  and  as  Marco  Polo  could  not  be  sup- 
posed to  have  measured  the  walls  himself,  he  has 
probably  taken  the  loose  and  incorrect  estimates  of 
the  inhabitants.  He  describes  it  also  as  built  upon 
little  islands  like  Yenice,  and  has  twelve  thousand 
Btone  bridges,^  the  arches  of  which  are  so  high  that 

1  Another  blunder  in  translation  has  drawn  upon  Marco 
Polo  the  indignation  of  George  Hornius,  who  (in  his  Origin 
<>f  America,  iV.  3}  exclaim'  :  "  Who  can  believe  all  that  h» 


492 


APPENDIX. 


the  largest  vessels  can  pass  under  them  without  lowei> 
ing  their  masts.  It  has,  he  affirms,  three  thousand 
baths,  and  six  hundred  thousand  famihes,  including  do- 
mestics. It  abounds  with  magnificent  houses,  and  haa 
a  lake  thirty  miles  in  circuit  within  its  walls,  on  the 
banks  of  which  are  superb  palaces  of  people  of  rank,^ 
The  inhabitants  of  Qulnsai  are  very  voluptuous,  and  in- 
dulge in  all  kinds  of  luxuries  and  delights,  particularly 
the  women,  who  are  extremely  beautiful.  There  are 
many  merchants  and  artisans,  but  the  masters  do  not 
work,  they  employ  servants  to  do  all  their  labor.  The 
province  of  Mangi  was  conquered  by  the  Great  Khan, 
who  divided  it  into  nine  kingdoms,  appointing  to 
each  a  tributary  king,  lie  drew  from  it  an  immense 
revenue,  for  the  country  abounded  in  gold,  silver, 
silks,  sugar,  spices,  and  perfumes. 


ZIPANGU,  ZIPANGRI,  OR  CIPANGO. 

Fifteen  hundred  miles  from  the  shores  of  Mangi, 
according  to  Marco  Polo,  lay  the  great  island  of 
Zipangu,  by  some  written  Zipangri,  and  by  Colum- 

saj^s  of  the  city  of  Quinsai?  as  for  example,  that  it  has  stone 
bridges  twelve  thousand  miles  high!"&c.  It  is  probable 
that  many  of  the  exaggerations  in  the  accounts  of  Mai'co 
Polo  are  in  fact  the  errors  of  his  translators. 

Mandeville,  speaking  of  this  same  city,  which  he  calls  Cau- 
sai,  says  it  is  built  on  the  sea  like  Venice,  and  has  twelve 
hundred  bridges. 

A  Sir  George  Staunton  mentions  this  lake  as  being  a  beauti- 
ful sheet  of  water,  about  three  or  four  mi.bs  in  diameter;  ita 
margin  ornamented  M^ith  houses  and  gardens  of  Mandarines, 
together  with  temples,  monasteries  for  the  priests  of  Fo,  and 
%n  imperial  palace. 


A  PPENDIX. 


493 


bus  Cipango.^  Marco  Polo  describes  It  as  abounding 
in  gold  which,  liowever,  the  king  seldom  permits  to 
be  transported  out  of  the  Island.  The  king  has  a 
magnificent  palace  covered  with  plates  of  gohl,  as  in 
other  countries  the  palaces  are  covered  with  sheets 
of  lead  or  copper.  The  halls  and  chambers  are  like- 
wise covered  with  gold,  the  windows  adorned  with 
k,  sometimes  in  plates  of  the  thickness  of  two  rin- 
gers. The  island  also  produces  vast  quantities  of  the 
largest  and  finest  pearls,  together  with  a  variety  of 
precious  stones  ;  so  that,  in  fact,  it  abounds  In  riches. 
The  Gre  ^t  Khan  made  several  attempts  to  conquer 
this  island,  but  in  vain  ;  which  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  if  It  be  true  what  Marco  Polo  relates,  that 
the  inhabitants  had  certain  stones  of  a  charmed  vir- 
tue inserted  between  the  skin  and  flesh  of  their  right 
arms,  which,  through  the  power  of  diabolical  en- 
chantments, rendered  them  invulnerable.  This  island 
was  an  object  of  diligent  search  to  Columbus. 

About  the  Island  of  Zipangu  or  CIpango,  and  be- 
tween It  and  the  coast  of  Mangl,  the  sea,  according 
to  Marco  Polo,  Is  studded  with  small  islands  to  the 
number  of  seven  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty, 
of  which  the  greater  part  are  inhabited.  There  is 
not  one  which  does  not  produce  odoriferous  trees  and 

1  Supposed  to  be  those  islands  collectively  called  Japan. 
They  are  named  by  the  Chinese  Ge-pen,  the  terminating  syl- 
lable gu  added  by  Marco  Polo,  is  supposed  to  be  the  Chinese 
word  kue,  signifying  kingdom,  which  is  commonly  annexed 
to  the  names  of  foreign  countries.  As  the  distance  of  the 
nearest  part  of  the  southern  island  from  the  coast  of  China 
pear  IS'ing-po,  is  not  more  than  five  hundred  Italian  miles, 
Mr.  M.irsden  supposes  Marco  Polo  in  stating  it  to  be  1500, 
moans  Chinese  miles  or  11,  which  are  in  the  proportion  of 
lomewi  lat  more  han  one  third  of  the  former. 


491 


AFI  ENBIX, 


perfumes  in  abundance.  Columbus  thouglit  himself 
at  one  time  in  the  midst  of  these  islands. 

These  are  the  principal  places  described  by  Marco 
Polo,  which  occur  in  the  letters  and  journals  of  Co- 
lumbus. The  island  of  Cipango  was  the  first  land 
he  expect3d  to  make,  and  he  intenciea  to  visit  after- 
wards the  province  of  Mangi,  cind  to  seek  the  Great 
Khan  in  his  city  of  Cambaiu,  m  the  province  of 
Cathay.  Unless  the  reader  can  Dear  in  mind  these 
sumptuous  descriptions  of  Marco  Folo,  of  countries 
teeming  with  wealth,  ana  cities  where  the  very 
domes  and  palaces  flamed  with  gold,  he  will  have 
but  a  faint  idea  of  the  splendid  anticipations  which 
fdled  the  imagination  of'  Columbus  when  he  discov- 
ered, as  he  supposed,  the  extremity  of  Asia.  It  was 
his  confident  expecration  of  soon  arriving  at  these 
countries,  and  realizing  the  accounts  of  the  Vene- 
tian, that  induced  him  to  hold  forth  those  promises 
of  immediate  wealth  to  the  sovereigns,  which  caused 
so  much  disappointment,  and  brought  upon  him  the 
frequent  reproach  of  exciting  false  hopes  and  indulg 
ing  in  willful  exaggeration. 


No.  XXIL 

SIR  JOHN  MANDEVILLE. 

Next  to  Marco  Polo  the  travels  of  Sir  John 
Mandeville,  and  his  account  of  the  territories  of  the 
Great  Khan  along  the  coast  ^  Asia,  seem  to  have 
been  treasured  up  in  the  mina  of  Columbus. 

Mandeville  was  born  in  the  city  of  St.  Albans. 
He  was  devoted  to  study  from  his  earliest  childhood^ 


APPENDIX. 


495 


and  after  finishing  his  general  educa  lon,  applied 
himself  to  medicine.  Having  a  great  desire  to  see 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth,  then  known,  that  is 
to  say,  Asia  and  Africa,  and  above  all,  to  visit  the 
Holy  Land,  he  left  England  in  1332,  and  passing 
throuo-h  France  embarked  at  Marseilles.  Accordinoj 
to  his  own  account,  he  visited  Turkey,  Armenia, 
Egypt,  Upper  and  Lower  Libya,  Syria,  Persia,  Chal- 
dea,  Ethiopia,  Tartary,  Amazonia  and  the  Indies,  re- 
Biding  in  their  principal  cities.  But  most  he  says  he 
delighted  in  the  Holy  Land,  where  he  remained  fo^ 
a  long  time,  examining  it  with  the  greatest  minute- 
ness and  endeavoring  to  follow  all  the  traces  of  oui 
Saviour.  After  an  absence  of  thirty-four  years  h^ 
returned  to  England,  but  found  himself  forgotten 
and  unknown  by  the  greater  part  of  his  countrymen, 
and  a  stranger  in  his  native  place.  He  wrote  a  his- 
tory of  his  travels  in  three  languages,  English, 
French  and  Latin,  for  he  was  master  of  many 
tongues.  He  addressed  his  work  to  Edward  HI. 
His  wanderings  do  not  seem  to  have  made  him  either 
pleased  with  the  world  at  large,  or  contented  with 
his  home.  He  railed  at  the  age,  saying  that  there 
was  no  more  virtue  extant,  that  the  church  was  ru- 
ined ;  error  prevalent  among  the  clergy ;  simony 
upon  the  throne ;  and,  in  a  word,  that  the  devil 
reigned  triumphant.  He  soon  returned  to  the  conti- 
nent, and  died  at  Liege  in  1372.  He  was  buried  in 
the  abbey  of  the  Gulielmltes,  in  the  suburbs  of  that 
city,  where  Ortelius,  in  his  Itinerarium  Belgias,  saya 
that  he  saw  his  monument,  on  which  was  the  effigy 
in  stonC;  of  a  man  with  a  forked  beard  and  his  hands 
raised  towards  his  head  (probably  folded  as  in 
prayer,  according  to  the  manner  of  old  tombs)  and 
a  lion  at  his  feet.  There  was  an  inscription  ^tating 
iais  name,  quality  and  calling  (namely,  professor  oi 


496 


APPENDIX, 


me'IIciiie).  that  lie  was  very  pious,  very  learned,  and 
very  chaiitable  to  the  poor,  and  that  after  having 
travelled  ovei  he  whole  world  he  had  died  at  Liege. 
The  people  of  the  convent  showed  also  his  spurs,  and 
the  housings  of  the  horses  which  he  had  ridden  in 
his  travels. 

The  description  given  by  Mandeville  of  the  Grand 
Khan,  of  the  province  of  Cathay,  and  the  city  of 
Cambalu,  are  no  less  splendid  than  those  of  Marco 
Polo.  The  royal  palace  was  more  than  two  leagues 
in  circumference.  The  grand  hall  had  twenty-four 
columns  of  copper  and  gold.  There  were  more  than 
three  hundred  thousand  men  occupied  and  living  in 
and  about  the  palace,  of  which  more  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand  were  employed  in  taking  care  of  ten 
thousand  elephants  and  of  a  vast  variety  of  other 
animals,  birds  of  prey,  falcons,  parrots  and  paroquets. 
On  days  of  festival  there  were  even  twice  the  num- 
ber of  men  employed.  The  title  of  this  potentate 
in  his  letters  was  Khan,  the  son  of  God,  exalted 
possessor  of  all  the  earth,  master  of  those  who  are 
masters  of  others.'*  On  his  seal  was  engraved, 
^'  God  reigns  in  heaven,  Khan  upon  earth." 

Mandeville  has  become  proverbial  for  indulging  in 
a  traveller's  exaggerations ;  yet  his  accounts  of  the 
countries  which  he  visited  have  been  found  far  more 
veracious  than  had  been  imagined.  His  descriptions 
of  Cathay,  and  the  wealthy  province  of  Mangi,  agree- 
ing with  those  of  Marco  Polo,  had  great  authority 
with  CoiumDiB 


APPENDIX, 


497 


No.  XXIII. 

THE  ZONES. 

The  zonts  were  \maginary  bands  or  circles  in  the 
heavens  producing  an  effect  of  climate  on  corres- 
ponding belts  on  the  globe  of  the  earth.  The  polar 
circles  and  the  tropics  mark  these  divisions. 

The  central  region,  lying  beneath  the  track  of  the 
eun,  was  termed  the  torrid  zone  ;  the  two  regions 
between  the  tropics  and  the  polar  circles,  were 
termed  the  temperate  zones,  and  the  remaining  parts, 
between  the  polar  circles  and  the  poles,  the  frigid 
zones. 

The  frozen  regions  near  the  poles  were  considered 
miinhabitabie  and  unnavigable  on  account  of  the 
extreme  cold.  The  burning  zone,  or  rather  the 
central  part  of  it,  immediately  about  the  equator, 
was  considered  uninhabitable,  unproductive,  and  im- 
passable in  consequence  of  the  excessive  heat.  The 
temperate  zones,  lying  between  them,  were  supposed 
to  be  fertile  and  salubrious,  and  suited  to  the  pur- 
poses of  life. 

The  globe  was  divided  into  two  hemispheres  by 
the  equator,  an  i'maginary  line  encircling  it  at  equal 
distance  from  the  poles.  The  whole  of  the  world 
known  to  the  ancients  was  contained  in  the  temperate 
zone  of  the  northern  hemisphere. 

It  was  imagined  that  if  there  should  be  inhab- 
itants  in  the  temperate  zone  of  the  southern  hem  is- 
phere,  there  could  still  be  no  communication  with 
them  on  account  of  the  burning  zone  which  inter- 
vened. 

Parmenides,  according  to  Strabo,  was  the  inventor 
of  this  theory  of  the  fire  zones,  but  he  made  the 
VOL.  III.  32 


498 


APPENDIX, 


torrid  zone  extend  on  each  side  cf  the  equator  Ay 
yond  the  tropics.  Aristotle  supported  this  doctrine 
of  the  zones.  In  his  time  nothing  was  known  of 
the  extreme  northern  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
nor  of  interior  Ethiopia  and  the  southern  part  of 
Africa,  extending  beyond  the  tropic  of  Capricorn 
to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Aristotle  believed  that 
there  was  habitable  earth  in  the  southern  hemisphere, 
but  that  it  was  forever  divided  from  the  part  of  the 
world  already  known,  by  the  impassable  zone  of 
Bcorching  heat  at  the  equator.-^ 

Pliny  supported  the  opinion  of  Aristotle  concern- 
ing the  burning  zones.  The  temperature  of  the 
central  region  of  the  earth,"  he  observes,  "  where  the 
sun  runs  his  course,  is  burnt  up  as  with  fire.  The 
temperate  zones  which  lie  on  either  side  can  have  no 
communication  with  each  other  in  consequence  of  the 
fervent  heat  of  this  region."  2 

Strabo,  (lib.  xi.,)  in  mentioning  this  theory,  gives 
it  likewise  his  support;  and  others  of  the  ancient 
philosophers,  as  well  as  the  poets,  might  be  cited  to 
show  the  general  prevalence  of  the  belief. 

It  must  be  observed  that,  at  the  time  when  Co- 
lumbus defended  his  proposition  before  the  learned 
board  at  Salamanca,  the  ancient  theory  of  the  burn- 
ing zone  had  not  yet  been  totally  disproved  by  mod- 
ern discovery.  The  Portuguese,  it  is  true,  had 
penetrated  within  the  tropics;  but,  though  the 
whole  of  the  space  between  the  tropic  of  Cancer 
and  that  of  Capricorn,  in  common  parlance,  was 
termed  the  torrid  zone ;  the  uninhabitable  and  im- 
passable part,  strictly  speaking,  according  to  the  doc« 
trine  of  the  ancients,  only  extended  a  limited  num- 
ber of  degrees  on  each  side  of  the  equator ;  forming 

1  Aristot.,  2  ^let.  cap.  5. 

2  Pliny,  lib.  i.  cap.  61. 


APPENDIX. 


499 


about  a  third,  or  at  most,  the  half  of  the  zone.  The 
proofs  which  Columbus  endeavored  to  draw  there- 
fore from  the  voyages  made  to  St.  George  la  Mina, 
were  not  conclusive  with  those  who  were  bigoted  to 
the  ancient  theory,  and  who  placed  this  scorching 
region  still  farther  southward,  and  immediately  about 
the  equator. 


No.  XXIV. 

OF  THE  ATALANTIS  OF  PLATO. 

The  Island  Atalantis  is  mentioned  by  Plato  in  hia 
dialogue  of  Timajus.  Solon,  the  Athenian  lawgiver, 
is  supposed  to  have  travelled  Into  Egypt.  He  Is  in 
an  ancient  city  on  the  Delta,  the  fertile  Island  formed 
by  the  Nile,  and  is  holding  converse  with  certain 
learned  priests  on  the  antiquities  of  remote  ages, 
when  one  of  them  gives  him  a  description  of  the 
island  of  Atalantis,  and  of  Its  destruction,  which  he 
describes  as  having  taken  place  before  the  conflagra 
tion  of  the  world  by  Phaeton. 

This  Island,  he  was  told,  had  been  situated  In  the 
Western  Ocean,  opposite  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 
There  was  an  easy  passage  from  It  to  other  islands, 
which  lay  adjacent  to  a  large  continent,  exceeding 
in  size  all  Europe  and  Asia.  Neptune  settled  In 
this  Island,  from  whose  son  Atlas  its  name  was  de- 
rived, and  he  divided  It  among  his  ten  sons.  His 
descendants  reigned  here  In  regular  succession  foi 
many  ages.  They  made  irruptions  Into  Europe  and 
A^frica,  subduing  all  Libya  as  far  as  Egypt,  and 
Europe,  to  Asia  Minor.  They  were  resisted,  how* 
ever,  by  the  Athenians,  and  driven  back  to  their 
Atlantic  territories.    Shortly  after  this  there  wai 


500 


APPENDIX, 


a  tremendous,  earthquake,  and  an  overflowing  of  t]i6 
Bea,  which  continued  for  a  day  and  a  night.  In  th« 
course  of  this  the  vast  island  of  Atalantis,  and  all 
its  splendid  cities  and  warlike  nations,  were  swal- 
lowed up,  and  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  which, 
spreading  its  waters  over  the  chasm,  formed  the  At- 
lantic Ocean.  For  a  long  time,  however,  the  sea 
was  not  navigable,  on  account  of  rocks  and  shelves, 
of  mud  and  slime,  and  of  the  ruins  of  that  drowned 
country. 

Many,  in  modern  times,  have  considered  this  a 
mere  fable  ;  others  suppose  that  Plato,  while  in  Egypt, 
had  received  some  vague  accounts  of  the  Canary 
Islands, ^and  on  his  return  to  Greece,  finding  those 
islands  so  entirely  unknown  to  his  countrymen,  had 
made  them  the  seat  of  his  political  and  moral  specu- 
lations. Some,  however,  have  been  disposed  to  give 
greater  weight  to  this  story  of  Plato.  They  imagine 
that  sucli  an  island  may  really  have  existed,  filling 
up  a  great  part  of  the  Atlantic,  and  that  the  conti- 
nent beyond  it  was  America,  which,  in  such  case, 
was  not  unknown  to  the  ancients.  Kircher  supposes 
it  to  have  been  an  island  extending  from  the  Cana- 
ries to  the  Azores  ;  that  it  was  really  ingulfed  in 
one  of  the  convulsions  of  the  globe,  and  that  those 
small  islands  are  mere  shattered  fragments  of  it. 

As  a  farther  proof  that  the  New  World  was  not 
unknown  to  the  ancients,  many  have  cited  the  singu- 
lar passage  in  the  Medea  of  Seneca,  which  is  won- 
derfully apposite,  and  shows,  at  least,  how  nearly. the 
warm  imagination  of  a  poet  may  approach  to  proph- 
ecy. The  predictions  of  the  ancient  oraclea  were 
rarely  so  unequivocal. 

"  Venient  annis 
Saecula  seris,  quibus  Oceanus 
V  'ncula  rerum  laxet,  et  iogens 


APPENDIX. 


501 


Pateat  tell  us,  Typhisque  novos 
Detegat  orbes,  nec  sit  terris 
Ultima  Thule." 

Gosselin,  in  his  able  research  into  the  voyages  of 
the  ancients,  supposes  the  Atalantis  of  Plato  to  have 
been  nothing  more  nor  less  than  one  of  the  nearest 
of  the  Canaries,  viz.  Fortaventura  or  Lancerote 


No.  XXY. 

THE  IMAGINARY  ISLAND  OF  ST.  BRANDAN. 

One  of  the  most  singular  geographical  illusions  on 
record  is  that  which  for  a  long  time  haunted  the 
imaginations  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Canaries. 
They  fancied  they  beheld  a  mountainous  island 
about  ninety  leagues  in  length,  lying  far  to  the  west- 
ward. It  was  only  seen  at  intervals,  but  in  perfectly 
clear  and  serene  weather.  To  some  it  seemed  one 
hundred  leagues  distant,  to  others  forty,  to  others 
only  fifteen  or  eighteen.-^  On  attempting  to  reach 
it,  however,  it  somehow  or  other  eluded  the  search, 
and  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  Still  there  were  so 
many  eye-witnesses  of  credibility  who  concurred  in 
testifying  to  their  having  seen  it,  and  the  testimony 
of  the  inhabitants  of  different  islands  agreed  so  well 
as  to  its  form  and  position,  that  its  existence  was 
generally  believed,  and  geographers  inserted  it  in 
theii  maps.  It  is  laid  down  on  the  globe  of  Martin 
Behem,  projected  in  1492,  as  delineated  by  M.  De 
Murr,  and  it  will  be*  found  in  most  of  the  maps  of 
Ihe  time  of  Columbus,  placed  commonly  about  two 
1  Fejjoo,  Theatre  Critico,  torn.  iv.  d.  10,  §  29. 


502 


APPENDIX. 


hundied  leagues  west  of  the  Canai'Ies.  During  the 
time  that  Columbus  was  making  his  proposition  to 
the  court  of  Portugal,  an  inhabitant  of  the  Canaries 
applied  to  King  John  11.  for  a  vessel  to  go  in  search 
of  thi-s  island.  In  the  archives  of  the  Torre  do 
Tombo  ^  also,  there  is  a  record  of  a  contract  made 
by  the  crown  of  Portugal  with  Fernando  de  Ulmo, 
cavalier  of  the  royal  household,  and  captain  of  the 
island  of  Tercera,  wherein  he  undertakes  to  go  at 
his  own  expense,  in  quest  of  an  island  or  islands,  or 
Terra  Firma,  supposed  to  be  the  Island  of  the  Seven 
Cities,  on  condition  of  having  jurisdiction  over  the 
game  for  himself  and  his  heirs,  allowing  one  tenth 
of  the  revenues  to  the  king.  This  Ulmo,  finding 
the  expedition  above  his  capacity,  associated  one 
Juan  Alfonso  del  Estreito  in  the  enterprise.  They 
were  bound  to  be  ready  to  sail  with  two  caravels  in 
the  month  of  March,  1487.2  The  fate  of  their  en- 
terprise is  unknown. 

The  name  of  St.  Brandan,  or  Borondon,  given  to 
this  imaginary  island  from  time  immemorial,  is  said 
to  be  derived  from  a  Scotch  abbot,  who  flourished 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  who  is  called  sometimes  by 
the  foregoing  appellations,  sometimes  St.  Blandano, 
or  St.  Blandanus.  In  the  Martyrology  of  the  order 
of  St.  Augustine,  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  patri- 
arch of  three  thousand  monks.  About  the  middle 
of  the  sixth  century,  he  accompanied  his  disciple,  St. 
Maclovio,  or  St.  Malo,  in  search  of  certain  islands 
possessing  the  delights  of  paradise,  which  they  were 
told  existed  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean,  and  were  in- 
habited by  infidels.  These  most  adventurous  saints- 
errant  wandered  for  a  long  time  upon  the  ocean,  and 
at  length  landed  upon  an  island  called  Ima.  Here 

1  Lib.  iv.  de  la  Chancelaria  del  Rey  Dn.  Juan  II.  fol.  101 
«  r.irre  do  Tombo.    Lib.  das  Ylhas,  f.  119. 


APPENDIX. 


503 


fit.  Malo  found  tlie  body  of  a  giant  lying  in  a  sep- 
jlchre.  He  resuscitated  him,  and  had  much  inter 
esting  conversation  with  him,  the  giant  informing  him 
that  the  inhabitants  of  that  island  had  some  notions 
of  the  Trinity,  and,  moreover,  giving  him  a  gratify- 
ing account  of  the  torments  which  Jews  and  Pagans 
vufFered  in  the  infernal  regions.  Finding  the  giant 
80  docile  and  reasonable,  St.  Malo  expounded  to  him 
the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion,  converted 
him,  and  baptized  him  by  the  name  of  Mildum. 
The  giant,  however,  either^hrough  weariness  of  life^ 
or  eagerness  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  his  conversion, 
begged  permission,  at  the  end  of  fifteen  days,  to  die 
again,  which  was  granted  him. 

According  to  another  account,  the  giant  told  them 
he  knew  of  an  island  in  the  ocean,  defended  by  walls 
of  burnished  gold,  so  resplendent  that  they  shone 
like  crystal,  but  to  which  there  was  no  entrance. 
At  their  request,  he  undertook  to  guide  them  to  it, 
and  taking  the  cable  of  their  ship,  threw  himself  into 
the  sea.  He  had  not  proceeded  far,  however,  when 
a  tempest  rose,  and  obliged  them  all  to  return,  and 
shortly  after  the  giant  died.^  A  third  legend  makes 
the  saint  pray  to  heaven  on  Easter  day,  that  they 
may  be  permitted  to  find  land  where  they  may  cel- 
ebrate the  offices  of  religion  with  becoming  state. 
An  island  immediately  appears,  on  which  they  land, 
perform  a  solemn  mass,  and  the  sacrament  of  the 
Eucharist;  after  which  reembarking  and  making 
Bail,  they  behold  to  their  astonishment  the  supposed 
'sland  suddenly  plunge  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
being  nothing  else  than  a  monstrous  whale.^  When 
the  rumor  circulated  of  an  island  seen  from  the 
Canaries,  which   always   eluded    the   search,  the 

1  Fr.  Gregorio  Garcia,  Origen  de  los  Indies,  lib.  i.  cap.  ft. 
^  Sigeberto,  Epist.  ad  Tietinar.  Abbat. 


504 


APPENDIX. 


legends  of  St.  Brandan  were  revived,  and  applied 
to  this  unapproachable  land.  We  are  told,  also^ 
that  there  was  an  ancient  Latin  manuscript  in  the 
archives  of  the  cathedral  church  of  the  Grand 
Canary,  in  which  the  adventures  of  these  saints 
were  recorded.  Through  carelessness,  however,  this 
manuscript  has  disappeared.-^  Some  have  main- 
tained that  this  Island  was  known  to  the  ancients, 
and  was  the  same  mentioned  by  Ptolemy  among  the 
Fortunate  or  Canary  islands,  by  the  names  of  Apro- 
situs,^  or  the  Inaccessible  ;  and  which,  according  to 
friar  Diego  Philipo,  in  his  book  on  the  Incarnation 
of  Christ,  shows  that  it  possessed  the  same  quality  in 
ancient  times  of  deluding  the  eye  and  being  unattain- 
able to  the  feet  of  mortals.^  But  whatever  belief  the 
ancients  may  have  had  on  this  subject,  it  is  certain 
that  it  took  a  strong  hold  on  the  faith  of  the  mod- 
erns during  the  prevalent  rage  for  discovery ;  nor 
did  it  lack  abundant  testimonials.  Don  Joseph  de 
Viera  y  Clavijo  says,  there  never  was  a  more  diffi- 
cult paradox  nor  problem  in  the  science  of  geogra- 
phy ;  since,  to  affirm  the  existence  of  this  island,  ia 
to  trample  upon  sound  criticism,  judgment,  and  rea- 
son ;  and  to  deny  it,  one  must  abandon  tradition  and 
experience,  and  suppose  that  many  persons  of  credit 
had  not  the  proper  use  of  their  senses."* 

The  belief  in  this  island  has  continued  long  since 
the  time  of  Columbus.  It  was  repeatedly  seen,  and 
by  various  persons  at  a  time,  always  in  the  same 
place  and  of  the  same  form.  In  1526  an  expedition 
pet  off  for  the  Canaries  in  quest  of  it,  commanded  by 
Fernando  de  Troya  and  Fernando  Alvarez.  They 

1  Nuiiez  de'la  Pena.    Conquist  de  la  Gran  Canari*, 

2  Ptolemy,  lib.  iv.  torn.  iv. 

«  Fr.  D.  Philipo,  lib.  viii.  fol.  25. 
*  Hist.  Isl.  Can.,  hb.  i.  cap.  28. 


APPENDIX. 


505 


cruised  in  tlie  wonted  direction,  but  in  vain,  and 
their  fliilure  ought  to  have  undeceived  the  pubHc. 

The  phantasm  of  the  island,  however,"  says  Viera, 
"  had  such  a  secret  enchantment  for  all  who  beheld 
it,  that  the  public  preferred  doubting  the  good  con 
duct  of  the  explorers,  than  tLeir  own  senses."  In 
1570  the  appearances  were  so  repeated  and  clear, 
that  there  was  a  universal  fever  of  curiosity  awakened 
among  the  people  of  the  Canaries,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  send  forth  another  expedition. 

That  they  might  not  appear  to  act  upon  light 
grounds,  an  exact  investigation  was  previously  made 
of  all  the  persons  of  talent  and  credibility  who  had 
seen  these  apparitions  of  land,  or  who  had  other 
proofs  of  its  existence.  Alonzo  de  Espinosa,  gov- 
ernor of  the  island  of  Ferro,  accordingly  made  a 
report,  in  which  m-ore  than  one  hundred  witnesses, 
several  of  them  persons  of  the  highest  respectability, 
deposed  that  they  had  beheld  the  unknown  island 
about  forty  leagues  to  the  north-west  of  Ferro  ;  that 
they  had  contemplated  it  with  calmness  and  certain- 
ty, and  had  seen  the  sun  set  behind  one  of  its  points. 

Testimonials  of  still  greater  force  came  from  the 
islands  of  Palma  and  TenerilFe.  There  were  certain 
Portuguese  who  affirmed,  that,  being  driven  about  by 
a  tempest,  they  had  come  upon  the  island  of  St.  Bo- 
rondon.  Pedro  Velio,  who  was  the  pilot  of  the 
vessel,  affirmed,  that  having  anchored  in  a  bay,  he 
landed  with  several  of  the  crew.  They  drank 
fresh  water  in  a  brook,  and  beheld  in  the  sand  the 
print  of  footsteps,  double  the  size  of  those  of  an 
ordinary  man,  and  the  distance  between  them  v/as  in 
proportion  They  found  a  cross  nailed  to  a  neigh- 
Doring  tree ;  near  to  which  were  three  stones  placed 
in  form  of  a  triangle,  with  signs  of  lire  having  been 
made  among  them,  probably  to  cook  shell-fish.  Hav 


^06 


APPENDIX. 


ng  seen  much  cattle  and  sheep  grazing  In  the  neigh* 
borhood,  two  of  their  party  armed  with  Lances  went 
mto  the  woods  in  pursuit  of  them.  The  night  was 
approaching,  the  heavens  began  to  lower,  and  {. 
narsh  wind  arose.  The  people  on  board  the  ship 
cried  out  that  she  was  diagging  her  anchor,  where- 
upon Velio  entered  the  boat  and  hurried  on  board. 
In  an  instant  they  lost  sight  of  land ;  being  as  it 
were  swept  away  in  the  hurricane.  When  the  storm 
had  passed  away,  and  the  sea  and  iky  were  again 
serene,  thej'  searched  in  vain  for  the  island ;  not  a 
trace  of  io  was  to  be  seen,  and  they  had  to  pursue 
their  voyage,  lamenting  the  loss  of  their  two  com- 
panions who  had  been  abandoned  in  the  wood.^ 

A  learned  licentiate,  Pedro  Ortiz  de  Funez,  in- 
quisitor of  the  Grand  Canary,  while  on  a  visit  at 
Teneriffe,  summoned  several  persons  before  him,  who 
fcest'fied  having  seen  the  island.  Among  them  was 
one  Marcos  Yerde,  a  man  well  known  in  those  parts. 
He  stated  that  in  returning  from  Barbary  and  ar- 
riving in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Canaries,  he 
beheld  land,  which,  according  to  his  maps  and  cal- 
culptions,  could  not  be  any  of  the  known  islands. 
He  concluded  it  to  be  the  far-famed  St.  Borondon. 
Overjoyed  at  having  discovered  this  land  of  mystery, 
he  coasted  along  its  spell-bound  shores,  until  he  an- 
chored in  a  beautiful  harbor  formed  by  the  mouth 
Df  a  mountain  ravine.  Here  he  landed  with  several 
of  his  crew.  It  was  now,  he  said,  the  hour  of  the 
Ave  Maria,  or  of  vespers.  The  sun  being  set,  the 
shadows  began  to  spread  over  the  land.  The  voy- 
agers having  separated,  wandered  about  in  different 
directions,  until  out  of  hearing  of  each  other's  shouts. 
Those  on  board,  seeing  the  night  approaching,  mada 

1  Nuflez  de  la  Pena,  lib.  i.  cap.  1.  Viera,  Hist.,  Is/.  Can. 
torn  i.  cap.  28. 


APPENDIX. 


507 


signal  to  summon  back  the  wanderers  to  tlie  ship 
They  reembarked,  intending  to  resume  their  investi- 
gations on  the  following  day.  Scarcely  were  they 
on  board,  however,  when  a  whirlwind  came  rushing 
down  the  ravine,  with  such  violence  as  to  drag  the 
vessel  from  her  anchor,  and  hurry  her  out  to  sea  ; 
and  they  never  saw  anything  more  of  this  hidden 
and  inhospitable  island. 

Another  testimony  remains  on  record  in  manu- 
script of  one  Abreu  Galindo  ;  but  whether  taken  at 
this  time  does  not  appear.  It  was  that  of  a  French 
adventurer,  who,  many  years  before ,  making  a  voyage 
among  the  Canaries,  was  overtaken  by  a  violent 
Btorm  which  carried  away  his  masts.  At  length  the 
furious  winds  drove  him  to  the  shores  of  an  unknown 
island  covered  with  stately  trees.  Here  he  landed 
with  part  of  his  crew,  and  choosing  a  tree  proper 
for  a  mast,  cut  it  down,  and  began  to  shape  it  for  his 
purpose.  The  guardian  power  of  the  island,  how- 
ever, resented  as  usual  this  invasion  of  his  forbidden 
shores.  The  heavens  assumed  a  dark  and  threaten- 
ing aspect ;  the  night  was  approaching,  and  the 
mariners,  fearing  some  impending  evil,  abandoned 
their  labor  and  returned  on  board.  They  were  borne 
away  as  usual  from  the  coast,  and  the  next  day  ar- 
rived at  the  island  of  Palma.^ 

The  mass  of  testimony  collected  by  official  au- 
thority in  1570  seemed  so  satisfactory,  that  an- 
other expedition  was  fitted  out  in  the  same  year 
in  the  island  of  Palma.  It  was  commanded  by 
Fernando  de  Yillabolos,  regidor  of  the  island  ;  but 
was  equally  fruitless  with  the  preceding.  St.  Bo- 
ron don  seemed  disposed  only  to  tantalize  the  world 
«vith  distant  and  serene  glimpses  of  his  ideal  para- 
dise ;  or  to  reveal  it  amidst  storms  to  tempest-tossed 

i  Nuilez  Conquista  le  Gran  Canaria    Viera,  Hist.,  &c. 


5oa 


APPENDIX. 


mariners,  but  to  hide  it  completely  frL.m  the  vIbw 
of  all  who  diligently  sought  it.  Still  the  people  of 
Palma  adhered  to  their  favorite  chimera.  Thirty 
four  years  afterwards,  in  1605,  they  sent  another 
ehip  on  the  quest,  commanded  by  Gaspar  Perez  de 
Acosta,  an  accomplished  pilot,  accompanied  by  the 
Padre  Lorenzo  Pinedo,  a  holy  Franciscan  friar, 
skilled  in  natural  science.  St.  Borondon,  however, 
refused  to  reveal  his  island  to  either  monk  or  mari- 
ner. After  cruising  about  in  every  direction,  sound- 
ing, observing  the  skies,  the  clouds,  the  winds,  every- 
thing that  could  furnish  indications,  they  returned 
without  having  seen  anything  to  authorize  a  hope. 

Upwards  of  a  century  now  elapsed  without  any 
new  attempt  to  seek  this  fairy  island.  Every  now 
and  then,  it  is  true,  the  public  mind  was  agitated  by 
fresh  reports  of  its  having  been  seen.  Lemons  and 
other  fruits,  and  the  green  branches  of  trees  which 
floated  to  the  shores  of  Gomera  and  Ferro,  were  pro- 
nounced to  be  from  the  enchanted  groves  of  St.  Bo- 
rondon. At  length,  in  1721,  the  public  infatuation 
again  rose  to  such  a  height  that  a  fourth  expedition 
w^as  sent,  commanded  by  Don  Gaspar  Dominguez,  a 
man  of  probity  and  talent.  As  this  was  an  expedi- 
tion of  solemn  and  mysterious  import,  he  had  two 
holy  friars  as  apostolical  chaplains.  They  made  sail 
from  the  island  of  Teneriffe  towards  the  end  of  Oc- 
tober, leaving  the  populace  in  an  indescribable  state 
of  anxious  curiosity  mingled  with  superstition.  The 
fihip,  however,  returned  from  its  cruise  as  unsuccessful 
as  all  its  predecessors. 

We  have  no  account  of  any  expedition  being  sinct* 
undertaken,  though  the  island  still  continued  to  be  a 
subject  of  speculation,  and  occasionally  to  reveal  its 
shadowy  mountains  to  the  eyes  of  favored  individ- 
uals.  In  a  letter  written  from  the  island  of  Gomera, 


APPENDIX. 


509 


1751>,  by  a  Franciscan  monk,  to  one  of  his  friends, 
he  relates  havino;  seen  it  from  the  villa2:€  of  Alaxere, 
at  six  in  the  morning  of  the  third  of  May.  It  ap- 
peared to  consist  of  two  lofty  mountains,  with  a  deep 
valley  between  ;  and  on  contemplating  it  with  a  tele- 
scope, the  valley  or  ravine  appeared  to  be  filled  with 
trees.  He  summoned  the  curate,  Antonio  Joseph 
Manrique,  and  upwards  of  forty  other  persons,  all  of 
whom  beheld  it  plainly.'^ 

Nor  is  this  island  delineated  merely  in  ancient 
maps  of  the  time  of  Columbus.  It  is  laid  down  as 
one  of  the  Canary  Islands  in  a  French  map  published 
in  1 704  ;  and  Mons.  Gautier,  in  a  geographical  chart, 
annexed  to  his  Observations  on  Natural  History, 
published  in  1755,  places  it  five  degrees  to  the  west 
of  the  island  of  Ferro,  in  the  29th  deg.  of  N.  lati- 
tude.^ 

Such  are  the  principal  facts  existing  relative  to 
the  island  of  St.  Brandan.  Its  reality  was  for  a  long 
time  a  matter  of  firm  belief  It  was  in  vain  that  re- 
peated voyages  and  investigations  proved  its  non-ex- 
istence ;  the  public,  after  trying  all  kinds  of  sophistry, 
took  refuge  in  the  supernatural,  to  defend  their  favo- 
rite chimera.  They  maintained  that  it  was  rendered 
inaccessible  to  mortals  by  Divine  Providence,  or  by 
diabolical  magic.  Most  inclined  to  the  former.  All 
kinds  of  extravagant  fancies  were  indulged  concern- 
ing it ;  ^  some  confounded  it  with  the  fabled  Island  of 
the  Seven  Cities,  situated  somewhere  in  the  bosom  of 
the  ocean,  where  in  old  times  seven  bishops  and  their 
followers  had  taken  refuge  from  the  Moors.  Some 
cf  the  Portuguese  imagined  it  to  be  the  abode  of 
their  lost  king  Sebastian.  The  Spaniards  pretended 
that  Roderick,  the  last  of  their  Gothic  kings,  had 

1  Viera,  Hist.  Ig  .  Can.,  torn.  i.  cap.  28. 

2  Idem.  3  Idem. 


510 


ArPENDlX. 


fled  thither  from  the  Moors  after  the  disastrous  batilei 
of  the  Guadalete.  Others  suggested  that  it  might 
be  the  seat  of  the  terrestrial  paradise,  the  placb 
where  Enoch  and  Elijah  remained  in  a  state  of  bless- 
edness until  the  final  day ;  and  that  it  was  made  at 
times  apparent  to  the  eyes,  but  invisible  to  the  searc  h 
of  mortals.  Poetry,  it  is  said,  has  owed  to  this 
popular  belief  one  of  its  beautiful  fictions ;  and  the 
garden  of  Armida,  where  Rinaldo  was  detained  en- 
chanted, and  which  Tasso  places  in  one  of  the  Ca- 
nary Islands,  has  been  identified  with  the  imaginary 
St.  Borondon.^ 

The  learned  Father  Feyjoo^  has  given  a  philosoph- 
ical solution  to  this  geographical  problem.  He  at- 
tributes all  these  appearances,  which  have  been  so 
numerous  and  so  well  authenticated  as  not  to  admit 
of  doubt,  to  certain  atmospherical  deceptions,  like 
that  of  the  Fata  Morgana,  seen  at  times,  in  the 
Straits  of  Messina,  where  the  city  of  Reggio  and  its 
surrounding  country  is  reflected  in  the  air  above  the 
neighboring  sea :  a  phenomenon  which  has  likewise 
been  witnessed,  in  front  of  the  city  of  Marseilles.  As 
to  the  tales  of  the  mariners  who  had  landed  on  these 
forbidden  shores,  and  been  hurried  thence  in  whirl- 
winds and  tempests,  he  considers  them  as  mere  fab- 
rications. 

As  the  populace,  however,  reluctantly  give  up  any- 
thing that  partakes  of  the  marvelous  and  mysterious, 
and  as  the  same  atmospherical  phenomena,  which 
first  gave  birth  to  the  illusion,  may  still  continue,  it 
is  not  improbable  that  a  belief  in  the  Island  of  St. 
Brandan  may  still  exist  among  the  ignorant  anc^ 
credulous  of  the  Canaries,  and  that  they  at  times  be 
hold  its  fairy  mountains  rising  above  the  distant  hor 
zon  of  the  Atlantic. 

1  Viera,  ubi  sup.  2  Theatre  Critico,  torn.  iv.  d.  x. 


APPENDIX. 


Ml 


No.  XXYI 

THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  SEVEI^  CITIES. 


One  of  the  popular  traditions  concerning  the 
ocean,  which  wore  current  during  the  time  of  Co- 
lumbus, was  that  of  the  Island  of  the  Seven  Cities. 
It  was  recorded  in  an  ancient  legend,  that  at  the 
time  of  the  conquest  of  Spain  and  Portugal  by  the 
Moors,  when  the  inhabitants  fled  in  every  direction 
to  escape  from  slavery,  seven  bishops,  followed  by  a 
great  number  of  their  people,  took  shipping  and 
abandoned  themselves  to  their  fate,  on  the  high  seas. 
After  tossing  about  for  some  time,  they  landed  on  an 
unknown  island  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean.  Here 
the  bishops  burnt  the  ships,  to  prevent  the  desertion 
of  their  followers,  and  founded  seven  cities.  Vari- 
ous pilots  of  Portugal,  it  was  said,  had  reached  that 
island  at  different  times,  but  had  never  returned  to 
give  any  information  concerning  it,  having  been  de- 
tained, according  to  subsequent  accounts,  by  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  bishops  to  prevent  pursuit.  At  length, 
according  to  common  report,  at  the  time  that  Prince 
Henry  of  Portugal  was  prosecuting  his  discoveries, 
several  seafaring  men  presented  themselves  one  day 
before  him,  and  stated  that  they  had  just  returned 
from  a  voyage,  in  the  course  of  which  they  had 
landed  upon  this  island.  The  inhabitants,  they  said, 
spoke  their  language,  and  carried  them  immediately 
to  church,  to  ascertain  whether  they  were  Catholics^ 
ftiid  were  rejoiced  at  finding  them  of  the  true  faith. 
They  then  made  earnest  inquiries,  to  know  whether 
the  Moors  still  retained  possession  of  Spain  and  Por- 
tugal. While  part  of  the  crew  were  at  church,  the 
rest  gathered  sand  on  the  shore  for  the  use  of  the 


512 


APPENDIX, 


kitchen,  ai  d  found  to  their  surprise  that  one  third 
of  it  was  gold.  The  islanders  were  anxious  that  the 
crew  should  remain  with  them  a  few  days,  until  the 
return  of  their  governor,  who  was  absent ;  but  thf 
mariners,  afraid  of  being  detained,  embarked  and 
'iiade  sail.  Such  was  the  story  they  told  to  Prince 
Henry,  hoping  to  receive  reward  for  their  intelligence. 
The  prince  expresse.d  displeasure  at  their  hasty  de- 
parture from  the  island,  and  ordered  them  to  n'turn 
and  procure  further  information  ;  but  the  men,  ap- 
prehensive, no  doubt,  of  having  the  falsehood  of  their 
tale  discovered,  made  their  escape,  and  nothing  more 
was  heard  of  them.^ 

This  story  had  much  currency.  The  Island  of  the 
Seven  Cities  was  identified  with  the  island  men- 
tioned by  Aristotle  as  having  been  discovered  by  the 
Carthaginians,  and  was  put  down  in  the  early  maps 
about  the  time  of  Columbus,  under  the  name  of 
Antilla. 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  New  Spain,  re- 
ports were  brought  to  Hispaniola  of  the  civilization 
of  the  country;  that  the  people  wore  clothing  ;  that 
their  houses  and  temples  were  solid,  spacious,  and 
often  magnificent ;  and  that  crosses  were  occasion- 
ally found  among  them.  Juan  de  Grivalja,  being 
dispatched  to  explore  the  coast  of  Yucatan,  reported 
that  in  sailing  along  it  he  beheld,  with  great  won- 
der, stately  and  beautiful  edifices  of  lime  and  stone, 
and  many  high  towers  that  shone  at  a  distance.^ 
For  a  time  the  old  tradition  of  the  Seven  Cities  was 
r8vivf;d,  and  many  thought  that  they  were  to  be 
found  in  the  same  part  of  New  Spain. 

1  Hist,  del  Aim  Iran  te,  cap  10. 

2  Torquemada  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  iv.  cap.  4.  Origes 
is  los  Indios,  por  Fr.  Gregorio  Garcia,  lib.  iv.  cap.  20. 


APPENDIX, 


513 


No.  XXYIL 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ISLAND  OF  MADEIRA. 

The  discovery  of  Madeira  by  Macham  rests  prin- 
cipally upon  the  authority  of  Francisco  Alcaforado^ 
an  es(juire  of  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal,  who  com- 
posed an  account  of  it  for  that  prince.  It  does  not 
appear  to  have  obtained  much  faith  among  Portu- 
guese historians.  No  mention  is  made  of  it  in  Bar- 
ros  ;  he  attributes  the  first  discovery  of  the  island  to 
Juan  Gonzalez  and  Tristram  Yaz,  who  he  said  de- 
signed it  from  Porto  Santo,  resembling  a  cloud  on  tho 
horizon^. 

The  Abbe  Provost,  however,  in  his  general  history 
of  voyages,  vol.  6,  seems  inclined  to  give  credit  to 
the  account  of  Alcaforado.  "  It  was  composed,"  he 
observes,  "  at  a  time  when  the  attention  of  the  pub- 
lic would  have  exposed  the  least  falsities ;  and  no 
one  was  more  capable  than  Alcaforado  of  giving  an 
exact  detail  of  this  event,  since  he  was  of  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  assisted  at  the  second  discovery." 
The  narrative,  as  originally  written,  was  overcharged 
with  ornaments  and  digressions.  It  was  translated 
into  French  and  published  in  Pai^is,  in  1G71.  The 
French  translator  had  retrenched  the  ornaments,  but 
scrupulously  retained  the  facts.  The  story  however 
is  cherished  in  the  island  of  Madeira,  where  a  paint- 
ing in  illustration  of  it  is  still  to  be  seen.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  purport  of  the  French  translation  :  1 
have  not  been  able  to  procure  the  original  of  Alca- 
forado. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third  of  Eng 
land,  a  young  man  of  great  courage  and  talent 

1  Barros  Asia,  decad.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  3. 
yoL.  III.  33 


614 


APPENDIX, 


named  "Robert  Macham,  fell  in  love  with  a  youDg 
lady  of  rare  beauty,  of  the  name  of  Anne  Dorset. 
She  was  his  superior  in  birth,  and  of  a  proud  and 
aristocratic  family  ;  but  the  merit  of  Macham  gained 
him  the  preference  over  all  his  rivals.  The  family 
of  the  young  lady,  to  prevent  her  making  an  inferior 
alliance,  obtained  an  order  from  the  king  to  havft 
Macham  arrested  and  confined,  until  by  arbitrary 
means  they  married  his  mistress  to  a  man  of  quality. 
As  soon  as  the  nuptials  were  celebrated,  the  noble- 
man conducted  his  beautiful  and  atBicted  bride  to  his 
Beat  near  Bristol.  Macham  was  now  restored  to  lib- 
erty. Indignant  at  the  wrongs  he  had  suffered,  and 
certain  of  the  affections  of  his  mistress,  he  prevailed 
upon  several  friends  to  assist  him  in  a  project  for  the 
gratification  of  his  love  and  his  revenge.  They  fol- 
lowed hard  on  the  traces  of  the  new  married  couple 
to  Bristol.  One  of  the  friends  obtained  an  introduc- 
tion into  the  ftimily  of  the  nobleman  in  quality  of  a 
groom.  He  found  the  young  bride  full  of  tender 
recollections  of  her  lover,  and  of  dislike  to  the  hus- 
band thus  forced  upon  her.  Through  the  means  of 
this  friend,  Macham  had  several  communications  with 
her,  and  concerted  means  for  their  escape  to  France, 
■where  they  might  enjoy  their  mutual  love  unmo- 
lested. 

When  all  things  were  prepared,  the  young  lady 
rode  out  one  day  accompanied  only  by  the  fictitious 
groom,  under  pretense  of  taking  the  air.  No  sooner 
were  they  out  of  sight  of  the  house,  than  they  gdl- 
loped  to  an  appointed  place  on  the  shore  of  the 
channel,  where  a  boat  awaited  them.  They  were 
conveyed  on  board  a  vessel,  which  lay  with  anchor 
atrip,  and  sails  unfurled,  ready  to  put  to  sea.  Here 
the  i:)vers  were  once  more  united.  Fearful  of  pur- 
luit,  the  ship  immediately  weighed  anchor ;  they 


APPENDIX. 


515 


made  their  way  rapidly  along  the  coast  of  Cornwall, 
and  Macham  anticipated  the  triumi)h  of  soon  land- 
ing with  his  beautiful  prize  on  the  shores  of  gay 
and  gallant  France.  Unfortunately  an  adverse  and 
Btormy  wind  arose  in  the  night ;  at  daybreak  they 
found  themselves  out  of  sight  of  land.  The  mari- 
ners were  ignorant  and  inexperienced  ;  they  knew 
nothing  of  the  compass,  and  it  was  a  time  when  men 
were  unaccustomed  to  traverse  the  high  seas.  For 
thirteen  days  the  lovers  were  driven  about  on  a  tem- 
pestuous ocean,  at  the  mercy  of  wind  and  wave. 
The  fugitive  bride  was  filled  with  terror  and  re- 
morse, and  looked  upon  this  uproar  of  the  elements 
as  the  anger  of  Heaven  directed  against  hen  All 
the  efforts  of  her  lover  could  not  remove  from  her 
mind  a  dismal  presage  of  some  approaching  catas- 
trophe. 

At  length  the  tempest  subsided.  On  the  four- 
teenth day  at  dawn,  the  mariners  perceived  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  tuft  of  wood  rising  out  of  the  sea. 
They  joyfully  steered  for  it,  supposing  it  to  be  an 
island.  They  were  not  mistaken.  As  they  drew 
near,  the  rising  sun  shone  upon  noble  forests,  the 
trees  of  which  were  of  a  kind  unknown  to  them. 
Flights  of  birds  also  came  hovering  about  the  ship, 
and  perched  upon  the  yards  and  rigging  v^^ithout  any 
signs  of  fear.  The  boat  was  sent  on  shore  to  recon- 
noitre, and  soon  returned  with  such  accounts  of  the 
beauty  of  the  country,  that  Macham  determined  to 
take  his  drooping  companion  to  the  land,  in  hopes 
her  health  and  spirits  might  be  restored  by  refresh- 
ment and  repose.  They  were  accompanied  on  shore 
by  the  faithful  friends  who  had  assisted  in  their 
Jight.  The  mariners  remained  on  board  to  guard 
the  ship. 

The  country  was  indeed  delightful.    The  forests 


A  PPENDIX. 


were  St  \!L'ly  an;l  magnificent ;  there  were  trees  laden 
With  ex  •ellciit  friiits,  others  with  aromatic  flowers; 
the  waters  were  cool  and  limpid,  the  sky  was  serene, 
and  there  was  a  balmy  sweetness  in  the  air.  The 
animals  thej  met  with  showed  no  signs  of  alarm  or 
ferocity  >  from  which  they  concluded  that  the  island 
was  uninliabited.  On  penetrating  a  little  distance 
they  found  a  sheltered  meadow,  the  green  bosom  of 
which  was  bordered  by  laurels  and  refreshed  by  a 
mountain  brook  which  ran  sparkling  over  pebbles. 
In  the  centre  was  a  majestic  tree,  the  wide  branches 
of  which  afforded  shade  from  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
Here  Macham  had  bowers  constructed,  and  deter- 
mined'to  pass  a  few  days,  hoping  that  the  sweetness 
of  the  country,  and  the  serene  tranquillity  of  this  de- 
lightful solitude,  would  recruit  the  drooping  health 
and  spirits  of  his  companion.  Three  days,  however, 
had  scarcely  passed,  when  a  violent  storm  arose  from 
the  north-east,  and  raged  all  night  over  the  island. 
On  the  succeeding  morning  Macham  repaired  to  the 
sea-side,  but  nothing  of  his  ship  was  to  be  seen,  and 
he  concluded  that  it  had  foundered  in  the  tempest. 

Consternation  fell  upon  the  little  band,  thus  left  in 
an  uninhabited  island  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean.  The 
blow  fell  most  severely  on  the  timid  and  repentant 
bride.  She  reproached  herself  with  being  the  cause 
of  all  their  misfortunes,  and,  from  the  first,  had  been 
haunted  by  dismal  forebodings.  She  now  considered 
them  about  to  be  accomplished,  and  her  horror  was 
BO  great  as  to  deprive  her  of  speech  ;  she  expired  in 
three  days  without  uttering  a  word. 

Macham  was  struck  with  despair  at  beholding  the 
tragical  end  of  this  tender  and  beautiful  being.  He 
upbraided  himself,  in  the  transports  of  his  grief,  with 
tearing  her  from  her  home,  her  country,  and  her 
fi lends,  to  perish  upon  a  savage  coast.    All  the  eflbrts 


APPENDIX, 


Oil 


of  his  companions  to  console  liim  were  in  vain.  He 
died  within  five  days,  broken-hearted  ;  begging,  as  a 
last  request,  that  his  body  might  be  mierred  beside 
that  of  his  mistress,  at  the  foot  of  a  rustic  altar  which 
they  had  erected  under  the  great  tree.  They  set  up 
a  large  wooden  cross  on  the  spot,  on  which  was  placed 
an  inscription  written  by  Macham  himself,  relating  in 
a  few  words  his  piteous  adventure,  and  praying  any 
Christians  who  might  arrive  there,  to  build  a  chapel 
in  the  place  dedicated  to  Jesus  the  Saviour. 

After  the  death  of  their  commander,  his  followers 
consulted  about  means  to  escape  from  the  island. 
The  ship's  boat  remained  on  the  shore.  They  re- 
paired it  and  put  it  in  a  state  to  bear  a  voyage,  and 
then  made  sail,  intending  to  return  to  England.  Ig- 
norant of  their  situation,  and  carried  about  by  the 
winds,  they  were  cast  upon  the  coast  of  Morocco, 
where,  their  boat  being  shattered  upon  the  rocks, 
they  were  captured  by  the  Moors  and  thrown  into 
prison.  Here  they  understood  that  their  ship  had 
shared  the  same  fate,  having  been  driven  from  her 
anchorage  in  the  tempest,  and  carried  to  the  same 
inhospitable  coast,  where  all  her  crew  were  made 
prisoners. 

The  prisons  of  Morocco  were  in  those  days  filled 
with  captives  of  all  nations,  taken  by  their  cruisers. 
Here  the  English  prisoners  met  with  an  experienced 
pilot,  a  Spaniard  of  Seville,  named  Juan  de  Morales. 
He  listened  to  their  story  with  great  interest ;  in- 
quired into  the  situation  and  description  of  the  island 
they  had  discovered  ;  and,  subsequently,  on  his  re- 
demption from  prison,  communicated  the  circum« 
stances,  it  is  said,  to  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal. 

There  is  a  difficulty  in  the  above  narrative  of 
Alcaforado  in  reconciling  dates.  The  voyage  is  said 
bo  have  taken  place  during  the  reign  of  Edward  in.| 


518 


APPENDIX. 


wliuli  commenced  in  1327  and  ended  in  1378.  Mo- 
rales, to  whom  the  English  communicated  their  voy- 
age, is  said  to  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  Portu- 
guese, in  the  second  discovery  of  Madeira,  in  1418 
and  1420.  Even  if  the  voyage  and  imprisonment 
had  taken  place  in  the  last  year  of  King  Edward's 
reign,  this  leaves  a  space  of  forty  years. 

Hackluyt  gives  an  account  of  the  same  voyage, 
taken  from  Antonio  Galvano.  He  varies  in  certain 
particulars.  It  happened,  he  says,  in  the  year  1344, 
in  the  time  of  Peter  IV.  of  Aragon.  Macham  cast 
anchor  in  a  bay  since  called  after  him  Machio. 

The  lady  being  ill,  he  took  her  on  shore,  accom- 
panied by  some  of  his  friends,  and  the  ships  sailed 
without  them.  After  the  death  of  the  lady,  Mt*>cham 
made  a  canoe  out  of  a  tree,  and  ventured  to  sea  in  it 
with  his  companions.  They  were  cast  upon  the  coast 
of  Africa,  where  the  Moors,  considering  it  a  kind  of 
miracle,  carried  him  to  the  king  of  their  country,  who 
sent  him  to  the  king  of  Castile.  In  consequence  of 
the  traditional  accounts  remaining  of  this  voyage, 
Henry  11.  of  Castile  sent  people,  in  1395,  to  redis- 
cover the  island. 


No.  xxvm. 

LAS  CASAS. 

Bartholomew  Las  Casas,  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  so 
often  cited  in  all  histories  of  the  New  World,  was 
born  at  Seville,  in  1474,  and  was  of  French  ex- 
traction. The  family  name  was  Casaus.  The  first 
of  the  name  who  appeared  in  Spain,  served  under 


APPENDIX, 


the  standa.xl  of  Ferdinand  III.,  surnamed  the  Saint, 
in  his  wars  with  the  Moors  of  Andalusia.  He  was  at 
the  taking  of  Seville  from  the  Moors,  when  he  was 
rewarded  by  the  king,  and  received  permission  to  es- 
tablish himself  there.  His  descendants  enjoyed  the 
prerogatives  of  nobility,  and  suppressed  the  letter  u 
in  their  name,  to  accommodate  it  to  the  Spanish 
tongue. 

Antonio,  the  father  of  Bartholomew,  went  to  His- 
paniola  with  Columbus  in  1493,  and  returned  rich  to 
Seville  in  1498.^  It  has  been  stated  by  one  of  the 
biographers  of  Bartholomew  Las  Casas,  that  he  ac- 
companied Columbus  in  his  third  voyage  in  1498,  and 
returned  with  him  in  1500.^  This,  however,  is  in- 
correct. He  was,  during  that  time,  completing  his 
education  at  Salamanca,  where  he  was  instructed  iu 
Latin,  dialectics,  logic,  metaphysics,  ethics,  and  physics, 
after  the  supposed  method  and  system  of  Aristotle. 
While  at  the  university,  he  had,  as  a  servant,  an 
Indian  slave,  given  him  by  his  father,  who  had  re- 
ceived him  from  Columbus.  When  Isabella,  in  her 
transport  of  virtuous  indignation,  ordered  the  Indian 
slaves  to  be  sent  back  to  their  country,  this  one  was 
taken  from  Las  Casas.  The  young  man  was  aroused 
by  the  circumstance,  and,  on  considering  the  nature 
of  the  case,  became  inflamed  with  a  zeal  in  favor  of 
the  unhappy  Indians,  which  never  cooled  throughout 
a  long  and  active  life.  It  was  excited  to  tenfold 
fervor,  when,  at  about  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years, 
he  accompanied  the  commander  Ovando  to  Hispaniola 
in  1502,  and  was  an  eye-witness  to  many  of  the  cruel 
scenes  which  took  place  under  his  administration. 
The  whole  of  his  future  life,  a  space  exceeding  sixty 
rears,  was  devoted  to  vindicating  the  cause,  and  en- 

1  Navarrcte,  Colec.  Viag.,  torn.  i.  Introd.,  p.  Ixx. 

2  T.  A.  Llorente,  OLuvres  de  Las  Casas,  p.  xi.  Paris,  1822. 


520 


APPENDIX. 


deavoring  to  meliorate  the  sufferings  of  the  natives 
As  a  missionary,  he  traversed  the  wilderness  of  the 
New  World  in  various  directions,  seeking  to  convert 
and  civilize  them  ;  as  a  protector  and  champion,  he 
made  several  voyages  to  Spain,  vindicated  their 
wrongs  before  courts  and  monarchs,  wrote  volumes  ia 
their  behalf,  and  exhibited  a  zeal,  and  constancy,  and 
intrepidity  worthy  of  an  apostle.  He  died  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years,  and  was  buried  at 
Madrid,  in  the  church  of  the  Dominican  convent  of 
Atocha,  of  which  fraternity  he  was  a  member. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  decry  the  consistency, 
and  question  the  real  philanthropy  of  Las  Casas,  in 
consequence  of  one  of  the  expedients  to  which  he 
resorted  to  relieve  the  Indians  from  the  cruel  bondage 
imposed  upon  them.  This  occurred  in  1517,  when 
he  arrived  in  Spain,  on  one  of  his  missions,  to  obtain 
measures  in  their  favor  from  the  government.  On 
his  arrival  in  Spain,  he  found  Cardinal  Ximenes,  who 
had  been  left  regent  on  the  death  of  King  Ferdinand, 
too  ill  to  attend  to  his  affairs.  He  repaired,  there- 
fore, to  Valladolid,  where  he  awaited  the  coming  of 
the  new  monarch  Charles,  Archduke  of  Austria,  after- 
wards the  Emperor  Charles  V.  He  had  strong  oppo- 
nents to  encounter  in  various  persons  high  in  author- 
ity, who,  holding  estates  and  repartimientos  in  the 
colonies,  were  interested  in  the  slavery  of  the  Indians. 
Among  these,  and  not  the  least  animated,  was  the 
Bishop  Fonseca,  president  of  the  council  of  the  Indies. 

At  length  the  youthful  sovereign  arrived,  accom- 
panied by  various  Flemings  of  his  court,  particularly 
his  grand  chancellor,  Doctor  Juan  de  Selvagio,  a 
learned  and  upright  man,  whom  he  consulted  on  all 
affairs  of  administration  and  justice.  Las  Casas  soon 
became  intimate  with  the  chancellor,  and  stood  high 
m  his  esteem  ;  but  so  much  opposition  arose  on  e  rery 


APPENDIX, 


Bide  that  ho  fou.id  his  various  propositions  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  natives  but  little  attended  to.  Tn  hi« 
doubt  and  anxiety  he  had  now  recourse  to  ar  expe- 
dient which  he  considered  as  justified  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case.-^  The  chancellor  Selvagio  and 
other  Flemings  who  had  accompanied  the  youthful 
sovereign,  had  obtained  from  him,  before  quitting 
Flanders,  licenses  to  import  slaves  from  Africa  to  the 
colonies  ;  a  measure  which  had  recently  in  1516  been 
prohibited  by  a  decree  of  Cardinal  Ximenes  while 
acting  as  regent.  The  chancellor,  who  was  a  humane 
man,  reconciled  it  to  his  conscience  by  a  popular 
opinion  that  one  negro  could  perform,  without  detri- 
ment to  his  health,  the  labor  of  several  Indians,  and 
that  therefore  it  was  a  great  saving  of  human  saffer- 
ing.  So  easy  is  it  for  interest  to  wrap  itself  up  in 
plausible  argument  !  He  might,  moreover,  have 
thought  the  welfare  of  the  Africans  but  little  affected 
by  the  change.  They  were  accustomed  to  slavery  in 
their  own  country,  and  they  were  said  to  thrive  in 
the  New  World.  "  The  Africans,"  observes  Herrera, 
"  prospered  so  much  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  that 
it  was  the  opinion  unless  a  negro  should  happen  to  be 
hanged,  he  would  never  die  ;  for  as  yet  none  had 
been  known  to  perish  from  infirmity.  Like  oranges, 
they  found  their  proper  soil  in  Hispaniola,  and  it 
Beemed  even  more  natural  to  them  than  their  native 
Guinea." 

Las  C  isas  finding  all  other  means  Ineffectual,  en- 

1  Herrera  clearly  states  this  as  an  expedient  a  lopted  when 
others  failed.  Bartolonie  de  Las  Casas,  viendc  que  sus  con- 
oeptos  hallabaii  en  todas  "partes  dificultad,  i  que  ias  opiniones 
lue  tenia,  por  mucha  fair  iliaridad  que  havia  seguido  i  gran 
credito  con  el  gran  Canciller,  no  podian  hal>er  efecto,  se  volviti 
«  otros  expedientes,'''  ^'C.  —  Decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  2. 

2  Herrera,  Hist.  lad.,  lib.  ii.  decad.  iii.  cap.  4. 


APPENDIX, 


Aeavored  to  turn  tliese  interested  views  of  the  grand 
chancellor  to  the  benefit  of  the  Indians.  He  proposed 
that  the  Spaniards,  resident  in  the  colonies,  might 
he  permitted  to  procure  negroes  for  the  labor  of  the 
farms  and  the  mines,  and  other  severe  toils,  which 
were  above  the  strength  and  destructive  of  the  lives 
of  the  natives.-^  He  evidently  considered  the  poor 
4fricans  as  little  better  than  mere  animals  ;  and  he 
acted  like  others,  on  an  arithmetical  calculation  of 
diminishing  human  misery,  by  substituting  one  strong 
man  for  three  or  four  of  feebler  nature.  He,  more- 
over, esteemed  the  Indians  as  a  nobler  and  more 
intellectual  race  of  beings,  and  their  preservation 
and  welfare  of  higher  importance  to  the  general  in- 
terests of  humanity. 

It  is  this  expedient  of  Las  Casas  which  has  drawn 
^own  severe  censure  upon  his  memory.  He  has 
been  charged  with  gross  inconsistency,  and  even 
with  having  originated  this  inhuman  traffic  in  the 
New  World.  This  last  is  a  grievous  charge ;  but 
historical  facts  and  dates  remove  the  original  sin 
from  his  door,  and  prove  that  the  practice  existed 
in  the  colonies,  and  was  authorized  by  royal  decree, 
long  before  he  took  a  part  in  the  question. 

Las  Casas  did  not  go  to  the  New  World  until 
1502.  By  a  royal  ordinance  passed  in  1501,  negro 
slaves  were  permitted  to  be  taken  there,  provided 
they  had  been  born  among  Christians."^  By  a  letter 
written  by  Ovando,  dated  1503,  it  appears  that  there 
were  numbers  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola  at  that 
time,  and  he  entreats  that  none  more  might  be  per- 
mitted to  be  brought. 

In  1506  the  Spanish  government  forbade  the 
Introduction  of  negro   slaves  from  the  Levant,  or 

1  Herrera,  Hi>t.  Ind  ,  decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  20 
Idem,  d.  ii.  lib.  51  cap.  8. 


APPENDIX, 


523 


tbosj  brought  up  with  the  Moors;  and  stipulated 
tliat  none  slould  be  taken  to  the  colonies  but  those 
from  Seville,  who  had  been  instructed  in  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  that  they  might  contribute  to  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Indians.'^  In  1510,  King  Ferdinand^ 
being  informed  of  the  physical  weakness  of  the 
Indians,  ordered  fifty  Africans  to  be  sent  from  Sd- 
ville  to  labor  in  the  mines.^  In  1511,  he  ordered 
ihat  a  great  number  should  be  procured  from 
Guinea,  and  transported  to  Hispaniola,  understand- 
ing that  one  negro  could  perform  the  work  of  four 
Indians.^  In  1512  and  '13  he  signed  further  orders 
relative  to  the  same  subject.  In  1516,  Charles  Y. 
granted  licenses  to  the  Flemings  to  import  negroes 
to  the  colonies.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1517, 
that  Las  Casas  gave  his  sanction  of  the  traffic.  It 
already  existed,  and  he  countenanced  it  solely  with  a 
view  to  having  the  hardy  Africans  substituted  for  the 
feeble  Indians.  It  was  advocated  at  the  same  time, 
and  for  the  same  reasons,  by  the  Jeronimite  friars, 
who  were  missionaries  in  the  colonies.  The  motives 
of  Las  Casas  were  purely  benevolent,  though  founded 
on  erroneous  notions  of  justice.  He  thought  to  per- 
mit evil  that  good  might  spring  out  of  it;  to  choose 
between  two  existing  abuses,  and  to  eradicate  tho 
greater  by  resorting  to  the  lesser.  His  reasoning, 
however  fallacious  it  may  be,  was  considered  satis- 
factory and  humane  by  some  of  the  most  learned 
and  benevolent  men  of  the  age,  among  whom  was 
the  Cardinal  Adrian,  afterwards  elevated  to  the  papal 
chair,  and  characterized  by  gentleness  and  humanity. 
Tlie  traffic  was  permitted;  inquiries  were  made  aa 
wO  f;he  number  of  slaves  required,  which  was  limited 

1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  d.  i.  lib.  vi.  cap.  20. 

2  Idem,  d.  i.  lib.  viii.  cap.  9. 
8  Idem,  d.  i.  lib.  ix.  cap.  5. 


521 


APPENDIX, 


to  four  thousand,  and  the  Flemings  obtained  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  trade,  which  they  afterwards  fariced  out 
to  the  Genoese. 

Dr.  Robertson,  in  noticing  this  affair,  draws  a 
contrast  between  the  conduct  of  the  Cardinal  Xi- 
menes  and  that  of  Las  Casas,  strongly  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  the  latter.  "  The  cardinal,"  he  observes, 
"  when  solicited  to  encourage  this  commerce,  per- 
emptorily nyected  the  proposition,  because .  he  per- 
ceived the  iniquity  of  reducing  one  race  of  men  to 
slavery,  when  he  was  consulting  about  the  means  of 
restoring  liberty  to  another ;  but  Las  Casas,  from 
the  inconsistency  natural  to  men  who  hurry  with 
headlong  impetuosity  towards  a  favorite  point,  was 
incapable  of  making  this  distinction.  Li  the  warmth 
of  his  zeal  to  save  the  Americans  from  the  yoke,  he 
pronounced  it  to  be  lawful  and  expedient  to  impose 
one  still  heavier  on  the  Africans."  ^ 

This  distribution  of  praise  and  censure  is  not 
perfectly  correct.  Las  Casas  had  no  idea  that  he 
was  imposing  a  heavier,  nor  so  heavy,  a  yoke  upon 
the  Africans.  The  latter  were  considered  more 
capable  of  labor,  and  less  impatient  of  slavery. 
While  the  Indians  sunk  under  their  tasks,  and 
perished  by  thousands  in  Hispaniola,  the  negroes,  on 
the  contrary,  thrived  there.  Herrera,  to  whom  Dr 
Robertson  refers  as  his  authority,  assigns  a  diflerent 
motive,  and  one  of  mere  finance  for  the  measures  of 
Cardinal  Ximenes.  He  says  that  he  ordered  that  no 
one  should  take  negroes  to  the  Indies,  because,  as 
the  natives  were  decreasing,  and  it  was  known  that 
one  negro  did  more  work  than  four  of  t'lem,  there 
would  probably  be  a  great  demand  for  African 
slaves,  and  a  tribute  might  be  imposed  upon  the 
trade,  from  which  would  result  profit  to  the  royal 
1  Kobertson,  Hist.  America,  p.  3. 


APPENDIX, 


treasury.^  This  measure  was  presently  after  carried 
into  effect,  though  subsequent  to  the  death  of  the 
cardinal,  and  licenses  were  granted  by  the  sovereign 
for  pecuniary  considerations.  Flechier,  in  his  life 
of  Ximenes,  assigns  another  but  a  mere  political 
motive  for  this  prohibition.  The  cardinal,  he  says, 
objected  to  the  importation  of  negroes  into  the 
colonies,  as  he  feared  they  would  corrupt  the  natives, 
and  by  confederacies  with  them  render  them  formid- 
able to  government.  De  Marsolier,  another  biog- 
rapher of  Ximenes,  gives  equally  politic  reasons  for 
this  prohibition.  He  cites  a  letter  written  by  the 
cardinal  on  the  subject,  in  which  he  observed  that 
he  knew  the  nature  of  the  negroes  ;  they  were  a 
people  capable,  it  was  true,  of  great  fatigue,  but  ex- 
tremely prolific  and  enterprising  ;  and  that  if  they 
liad  time  to  multiply  in  America,  they  would  infal- 
libly revolt,  and  impose  on  the  Spaniards  the  same 
chains  which  they  had  compelled  them  to  wear.^ 
These  facts,  while  they  take  from  the  measure  of 
the  cardinal  that  credit  for  exclusive  philanthropy 
which  has  been  bestowed  upon  it,  manifest  the  clear 
foresight  of  that  able  politician  ;  whose  predictions 
with  respect  to  negro  revolt  have  been  so  strikingly 
fulfilled  in  the  island  of  Hispanlola. 

Cardinal  Ximenes,  in  fact,  though  a  wise  and 
upright  statesman,  was  not  troubled  with  scruples 
of  conscience  on  these  questions  of  natural  right ; 
nor  did  he  possess  more  toleration  than  his  contem- 

1  Porque  como  iban  faltando  los  Indios  i  se  conocia  que  un 
negro  trabajaba  mas  que  quatro,  por  lo  qual  habia  gran  de- 
manda  de  ellos,  parecia  que  se  podia  poner  algim  tributo  en  la 
paca,  de  que  resultaria  provecho  a  la  RL  Hacienda.  Herrera, 
decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  8. 

2  De  Marsolier,  Hist,  du  Ministere  Cardinal  Ximenes,  lib. 
r    Toulcuse,  1694. 


526 


APPENDIX, 


poraries  towards  savage  and  infidel  nations.  lie  was 
grand  inquisitor  of  Spain,  and  was  very  efficient 
during  the  latter  years  of  Ferdinand  in  making 
slaves  of  tlie  refractory  Moors  of  Granada.  He 
authorized,  by  express  instructions,  expeditions  to 
seize  and  enslave  the  Indians  of  the  Caribbee  Isl- 
ands, whom  he  termed  only  suited  to  labor,  enemies 
of  the  Christians,  and  cannibals.  Nor  will  it  be 
considered  a  proof  of  gentle  or  tolerant  policy,  that 
he  introduced  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  into  the 
New  World.  These  circumstances  are  cited  not  to 
east  reproach  upon  the  character  of  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
but  to  show  how  incorrectly  he  has  been  extolled  at 
the  expense  of  Las  Casas.  Both  of  them  must  be 
judged  in  connection  with  the  customs  and  opinions 
of  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 

Las  Casas  was  the  author  of  many  works,  but  few 
of  which  have  been  printed.  The  most  important 
is  a  general  history  of  the  Indies,  from  the  discovery 
to  the  year  1520,  in  three  volumes.  It  exists  only 
in  manuscript,  but  is  the  fountain  from  which  Her- 
rera,  and  most  of  the  other  historians  of  the  New 
World,  have  drawn  large  supplies.  The  work^ 
though  prolix,  is  valuable,  as  the  author  wSs  an  eye- 
witness of  many  of  the  facts,  had  others  from  per- 
sons who  were  concerned  in  the  transactions  re- 
corded, and  possessed  copious  documents.  It  displays 
great  erudition,  though  somewhat  crudely  and  dif 
fusely  introduced.  His  history  was  commenced  in 
1527,  at  fifty-three  years  of  age,  and  was  finished  in 
1559,  when  eighty-five.  As  many  things  are  set 
down  from  memory  there  is  occasional  inar  curacy, 
but  the  whole  bears  the  stamp  of  sincerity  and  truth. 
The  author  of  the  present  work,  having  had  access 
to  this  valuable  manuscript,  has  made  great  ase  of 
\  drawing  forth  many  curious  facts  hitherto  neg- 


APPENDIX. 


527 


Iccted;  but  he  has  endeavored  to  consult  it  with 
caution  and  discrimination,  collating  it  with  other 
authorities,  and  omitting  whatever  appeared  to  bo 
dictated  by  prejudice  or  overheated  zeal. 

Las  Casas  has  been  accused  of  high  coloring  and 
extravagant  declamation  in  those  passages  which  re- 
late to  the  barbarities  practiced  on  the  natives  ;  ncr 
is  the  charge  entirely  without  foundation.  The  same 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  Indians  is  expressed  in  his 
writings  that  shone  forth  in  his  actions,  always  pure, 
often  vehement,  and  occasionally  unseasonable.  Still, 
however,  where  he  errs  it  is  on  a  generous  and 
righteous  side.  If  one  tenth  part  of  what  he  says 
be  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes  "  be  true,  and  his 
veracity  is  above  all  doubt,  he  would  have  been 
wanting  in  the  natural  feelings  of  humanity  had  he 
not  expressed  himself  in  terms  of  indignation  and 
abhorrence. 

In  the  course  of  his  work,  when  Las  Casas  men- 
tions the  original  papers  lying  before  him,  from  which 
he  drew  many  of  his  facts,  he  makes  one  lament  that 
they  should  be  lost  to  the  world.  Besides  the  jour- 
nals and  letters  of  Columbus,  he  says  he  had  numbers 
of  the  letters  of  the  Adelantado,  Don  Bartholomew, 
who  wrote  better  than  his  brother,  and  whose  writ- 
ings must  have  been  full  of  energy.  Above  all,  he 
had  the  map  formed  from  study  and  conjecture,  by 
which  Columbus  sailed  on  his  first  voyage.  What  a 
precious  document  would  this  be  for  the  world ' 
Those  writings  may  still  exist,  neglected  and  forgot- 
ten, among  the  rubbish  of  some  convent  in  Spain. 
Little  hope  can  be  entertained  of  discovering  them 
in  the  present  state  of  degeneracy  of  the  cloister. 
The  monks  of  iVtocha,  in  a  recent  conversation  with 
one  of  the  royal  princes,  betrayed  an  ignorance  that 
this  illustrious  man  was  buried  in  their  convent,  nof 


528 


APPENDIX, 


can  any  of  the  fraternity  point  out  his  place  of  scp« 
alture  to  the  stranger.^ 

The  publication  of  this  work  of  Las  Casas  has  not 
been  permitted  in  Spain,  where  every  book  must 
^lave  tlie  sanction  of  a  censor  before  it  is  committed 
to  the  press.  The  horrible  picture  it  exhibits  of  the 
cruelties  inflicted  on  the  Indians,  would,  it  was  imag- 
ined, excite  an  odium  against  their  conquerors.  Laa 
Casas  himself  seems  to  have  doubted  the  expediency 
of  publishing  it ;  for  in  1560  he  made  a  note  with 
bis  own  hand  which  is  preserved  in  the  two  first  vol- 
umes of  the  original,  mentioning  that  he  left  them  in 
confidence  to  the  college  of  the  order  of  Predicators 
of  St.  Gregorio,  in  Valladolid,  begging  of  its  prel- 
ates that  no  secular  person,  nor  even  the  collegians, 
should  be  permitted  to  read  his  history  for  the  space 
of  forty  years ;  and  that  after  that  term  it  might  be 
printed  if  consistent  with  the  good  of  the  Indies  and 
of  Spain.^ 

For  the  foregoing  reason  the  work  has  been  cau- 
tiously used  by  Spanish  historians,  passing  over  in 
Bilence,  or  with  brief  notice,  many  passages  of  dis- 
graceful import.  This  feeling  is  natural,  if  not 
commendable  ;  for  the  world  is  not  prompt  to  dis- 
criminate between  individuals  and  the  nation  of 
whom  they  are  but  a  part.  The  laws  and  regula- 
tions for  the  government  of  the  newly  discovered 
countries,  and  the  decisions  of  the  council  of  the 
Indies  on  all  contested  points,  though  tinctured  in 
gome  degree  with  the  bigotry  of  the  age,  were  dis- 

1  In  this  notice  the  author  has  occasionally  availed  himself 
of  the  interesting  memoir  of  Moii.  J.  A.  Llorente,  prefixed  to 
his  collection  of  the  works  of  Las  Casas,  collating  it  with  th| 
toistory  of  Herrera,  from  which  its  facts  are  principally 
lived. 

2  IJftvarrete,  Colec.  de  Viaoj.,  torn.  i.  p.  Ixxv. 


APPENDIX, 


529 


tingnishgd  for  wisdom,  justice,  and  humanity,  and  do 
honor  to  the  Spanish  nation.  It  was  only  in  the 
abuse  of  them  by  individuals  to  whom  the  execution 
of  the  laws  was  intrusted,  that  these  atrocities  were 
committed.  It  should  be  remembered,  also,  that  the 
same  nation  which  gave  birth  to  the  sanguinary  and 
rapacious  adventurers  who  perpetrated  these  cruel- 
ties, gave  birth  likewise  to  the  early  missionaries,  like 
Las  Casas,  who  followed  the  sanguinary  course  of 
discovery,  binding  up  the  wounds  inflicted  by  their 
countrymen  ;  men  who  in  a  truly  evangelical  spirit 
braved  all  kinds  of  perils  and  hardships,  and  even 
death  itself,  not  througii  a  prospect  of  temporal  gain 
or  glory,  but  through  a  de>ire  to  meliorate  the  con- 
dition and  save  the  souls  of  barbarous  and  suffering 
nations.  The  dauntless  enterprises  and  fearful  per- 
egrinations of  many  of  these  virtuous  men,  if  prop- 
erly appreciated,  would  be  found  to  vie  in  romantic 
daring  with  the  heroic  achievements  of  chivalry, 
with  motives  of  a  purer  and  far  more  exalted  nature 


No.  XXIX. 

PETER  MARTYR. 

Peter  Martir,  or  Martyr,  of  whose  writings 
much  use  has  been  made  in  this  historjr,  was  born  at 
Anghierra,  in  the  territory  of  Milan,  in  Italy,  on  the 
second  of  February,  1455.  He  is  commonly  termed 
Peter  Martyr  of  Angleria,  from  the  Latin  name  of 
his  native  place.  He  is  one  of  the  earliest  historians 
that  treat  of  Columbus,  and  was  his  contemporary 
and  intimate  acquaintance.     Being  at    Rome  in 

VOL.  III.  34 


530 


APPENDIX. 


1487,  and  having  acquired  a  distingaished  reputation 
for  learning,  he  was  invited  by  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
vior,  the  Count  de  Tendilla,  to  accompany  him  to 
Spain.  He  willingly  accepted  the  invitation,  an^?^ 
was  presented  to  the  sovereigns  at  Saragossa.  Isa- 
bella, amidst  the  cares  of  the  war  with  Granada,  was 
anxious  for  the  intellectual  advancement  of  her  king- 
dom, and  wished  to  employ  Martyr  to  instruct  the 
young  nobility  of  the  royal  household.  With  her 
peculiar  delicacy,  however,  she  first  made  her  con- 
fessor, Hernando  de  Talavera,  inquire  of  Martyr  in 
what  capacity  he  desired  to  serve  her.  Contrary 
to  her  expectation.  Martyr  replied,  "  in  the  profes- 
sion of  arms."  The  queen  complied,  and  he  followed 
her  in  her  campaigns,  as  one  of  her  household  and 
military  suite,  but  without  distinguishing  himself, 
and  perhaps  without  having  any  particular  employ 
in  a  capacity  so  foreign  to  his  talents.  After  the 
surrender  of  Granada,  when  the  war  was  ended,  the 
queen,  through  the  medium  of  the  grand  cardinal 
of  Spain,  prevailed  upon  him  to  undertake  the  in- 
struction of  the  young  nobles  of  her  court. 

Martyr  was  acquainted  with  Columbus  while 
making  his  application  to  the  sovereigns,  and  was 
present  at  his  triumphant  reception  by  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  in  Barcelona,  on  his  return  from  his 
first  voyage.  He  was  continually  in  the  royal  camp 
during  the  war  with  the  Moors,  of  which  his  letters 
contain  many  interesting  particulars.  He  was  sent 
ambassador  extraordinary  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
in  1501,  to  "Venice,  and  thence  to  the  grand  soldan 
of  Egypt.  The  soldan,  in  1490  or  1491,  bad  sent  an 
embassy  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  threatening  that, 
unless  they  desisted  from  the  war  against  Granada, 
he  would  put  all  the  Christians  in  Egypt  and  Syria 
to  death,  overturn  all  their  temple?,  and  destroy  fh« 


APPENDIX. 


531 


holy  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem.  Ferdinan  1  and  Tsa 
bella  pressed  the  war  with  tenfold  energy,  and 
brought  it  to  a  triumphant  conclusion  in  the  next 
campaign,  while  the  soldan  was  still  carrying  on  a 
similar  negotiation  with  the  pope.  They  aftei wards 
Bent  Peter  Martyr  ambassador  to  the  soldan  to  ex- 
plain and  justify  their  measure.  Martyr  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  embassy  with  great  ability  ;  ob- 
tained permission  from  the  soldan  to  repair  the  holy 
places  at  Jerusalem,  and  an  abolition  of  various  ex- 
tortions to  which  Christian  pilgrims  had  been  sub- 
jected. While  on  this  embassy,  he  wrote  his  work 
De  Legatioiie  Babylonica,  which  includes  a  history 
of  Egypt  in  those  times. 

On  his  return  to  Spain,  he  was  rewarded  with 
places  and  pensions,  and  in  1524  was  appointed  a 
minister  of  the  council  of  the  Indies.  His  principal 
work  is  an  account  of  the  discoveries  of  the  New 
World,  in  eight  decades,  each  contaiuing  ten  chapters. 
They  are  styled  Decades  of  the  New  World,  or  De- 
cades of  the  Ocean,  and,  like  all  his  other  works, 
were  originally  written  in  Latin,  though  since  trans- 
lated into  various  languages.  He  had  familiar  ac- 
cess to  letters,  papers,  journals,  and  narratives  of  the 
early  discoverers,  and  was  personally  acquainted  with 
many  of  them,  gathering  particulars  from  their  con- 
versation. In  writing  his  Decades,  he  took  great 
pains  to  obtain  information  from  Columbus  himself^ 
and  from  others,  his  companions. 

In  one  of  his  epistles,  (No.  153,  January,  1494,  to 
Pomponius  Lastus,)  he  mentions  having  just  received 
a  letter  from  Columbus,  by  which  it  appears  he  was 
in  correspondence  with  him.  Las  Casas  says  that 
great  credit  is  to  be  given  to  him  in  regard  to  those 
voyages  of  Columbus,  although  his  Decades  contain 
3ome  inaccuracies  relative  to  subsequent  events  in 


532 


APPENDIX, 


the  Indies.  Munoz  allows  him  great  credit,  as  an 
author  contemporary  with  his  subject,  grave,  well 
cultivated,  instructed  in  the  facts  of  which  he  treats, 
and  of  entire  probity.  He  observes,  however,  that 
his  writings  being  composed  on  the  spur  or  excite- 
ment of  the  moment,  often  related  circumstances 
which  subsequently  proved  to  be  erroneous  ;  that  they 
were  written  without  method  or  care,  often  confusing 
dates  and  events,  so  that  they  must  be  read  with 
some  caution. 

Martyr  was  in  the  daily  habit  of  writing  letters 
to  distinguished  persons,  relating  the  passing  occur- 
rences of  the  busy  court  and  age  in  which  he  lived. 
In  several  of  these  Columbus  is  mentioned,  and  also 
some  of  the  chief  events  of  his  voyages,  as  promul- 
gated' at  the  very  moment  of  his  return.  These  let- 
ters not  being  generally  known  or  circulated,  or  fre- 
quently cited,  it  may  be  satisfactory  to  the  reader  to 
have  a  few  of  the  main  passages  which  relate  to  Co- 
lumbus. They  have  a  striking  effect  in  carrying  us 
back  to  the  very  time  of  the  discoveries. 

In  one  of  his  epistles,  dated  Barcelona,  May  1st, 
1493,  and  addressed  to  C.  Borromeo,  he  says : 
"  Within  these  few  days  a  certain  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus has  arrived  from  the  western  antijDodes  ;  a 
man  of  Liguria,  whom  my  sovereigns  reluctantly  in- 
trusted with  three  ships,  to  seek  that  region,  for  they 
thought  that  what  he  said  was  fabulous.  He  has  re- 
turned and  brought  specimens  of  many  precious 
things,  but  particularly  gold,  which  those  countries 
naturally  produce."  ^ 

In  another  letter,  dated  likewise  from  Barcelona, 
in  September  following,  he  gives  a  more  particulai 
account.    It  is  addressed  to  Count  Tendilla,  govern- 
or of  Granada,  and  also  to  Hernando  Talavera,  arch 
1  Cpus  Epist.  P.  Martyris  Anglerii,  Fpist.  131. 


APPENDIX, 


53a 


bishop  of  that  diocese,  and  the  same  to  whom  the 
propositions  of  Columbus  had  been  referred  by  the 
Spanish  sovereigns.  "  Arouse  your  attention,  an- 
cient sages,"  says  Peter  Martyr  in  his  epistle  ;  "  listen 
to  a  new  discovery.  You  remember  Columbus  the 
Ligurian,  appointed  in  the  camp  by  our  sovereigns  to 
search  for  a  new  hemisphere  of  land  at  the  west- 
ern antipodes.  You  ought  to  recollect,  for  you  had 
some  agency  in  the  transaction ;  nor  would  the  en- 
terprise, as  I  think,  have  been  undertaken,  without 
your  counsel.  He  has  returned  in  safety,  and  relates 
the  wonders  he  has  discovered.  He  exhibits  gold  as 
proofs  of  the  mines  in  those  regions ;  Gossampine 
cotton  also,  and  aromatics,  and  pepper  more  pun- 
gent than  that  from  Caucasus.  All  these  things,  to- 
gether with  scarlet  dye-woods,  the  earth  produces 
spontaneously.  Pursuing  the  western  sun  from  Ga- 
des  five  thousand  miles,  of  each  a  thousand  paces,  as 
he  relates,  he  fell  in  with  sundry  islands,  and  took 
possession  of  one  of  them,  of  greater  circuit,  he  as- 
serts, than  the  whole  of  Spain.  Here  he  found  a 
race  of  men  living  contented,  in  a  state  of  nature, 
subsisting  on  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  bread  formed 

from  roots  These  people  have  kings, 

some  greater  than  others,  and  they  war  occasionally 
among  themselves,  with  bows  and  arrows,  or  lances 
sharpened  and  hardened  in  the  fire.  The  desire  of 
command  prevails  among  them,  though  they  are 
naked.  They  have  wives  also.  What  they  worship 
except  the  divinity  of  heaven,  is  not  ascertained."  ^ 

In  another  letter,  dated  likewise  in  September, 
1493,  and  addressed  to  the  cardinal  and  vice-chan- 
xellor  Ascanius  Sforza,  he  says : 

"  So  great  is  my  desire  to  give  you  satisfaction,  il- 
lustrious prince,  that  I  consider  it  a  gratifying  occup- 
1  ()piis  Epist.  P.  Martyris  Anglerii,  Epist.  134. 


534 


APPENDIX. 


rence  in  the  great  fluctuations  of  events,  when  any- 
thing takes  place  among  us,  in  which  you  may  take 
an  interest.  The  wonders  of  this  terrestrial  globe, 
round  wliich  the  sun  makes  a  circuit  in  the  space  of 
four  and  twenty  hours,  have,  until  our  time,  as  you 
are  well  aware,  been  known  only  in  regard  to  one 
hemisphere,  merely  from  the  Golden  Chersonesus  to 
our  Spanish  Gades.  The  rest  has  been  given  up  jis 
unknown  by  cosmographers,  and  if  any  mention  of 
it  has  bejn  made,  it  has  been  slight  and  dubious. 
But  now,  O  blessed  enterprise  !  under  the  auspices 
of  our  sovereigns,  what  has  hitherto  lain  hidden 
^ince  the  first  origin  of  things,  has  at  length  begun  to 
be  developed.  The  thing  has  thus  occurred  —  at- 
tend, illustrious  prince  !  A  certain  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus, a  Ligurian,  dispatched  to  those  regions  with 
three  vessels  by  my  sovereigns,  pursuing  the  west- 
ern sun  above  five  thousand  miles  from  Gades, 
achieved  his  way  to  the  antipodes.  Three  and 
thirty  successive  days  they  navigated  with  naught 
out  sky  and  water.  At  length  from  the  mast-head 
of  the  largest  vessel,  in  which  Columbus  himself 
sailed,  those  on  the  lookout  proclaimed  the  sight  of 
land.  He  coasted  along  six  islands,  one  of  them,  as 
all  his  followers  declare,  beguiled  perchance  by  the 
novelty  of  the  scene,  is  larger  than  Spain." 

Martyr  proceeds  to  give  the  usual  account  of  the 
productions  of  the  islands,  and  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  the  natives,  particularly  the  wars  which  oc- 
curred among  them  ;  "  as  if  meum  and  tuum  had 
been  introduced  among  them  as  among  us,  and  ex- 
pensive luxuries,  and  the  desire  of  accumulating 
wealth  ;  for  what,  you  will  think,  can  be  the  wanta 
of  naked  men  ?  "  "  What  farther  may  succeed,** 
be  adds,  I  will  hereafter  signify.  Farewell."  ^ 
1  Opus  Epist  P.  Martyris  Anglerii,  Epist.  135. 


APPENDIX. 


535 


In  Miiotlier  letter,  dated  Yalladolid,  February  1, 
1494,  to  Hernando  de  Talavera,  archbishop  of  Gra- 
nada, he  observes,  "the  king  and  queen,  on .  the  re- 
turn of  Cohnnbus  to  Barcelona,  from  his  honorable 
enterprise,  appoints  I  him  admiral  of  the  ocean  sea, 
and  caused  him,  on  account  of  his  illustrious  deeds, 
to  be  seated  in  their  presence,  an  honor  and  a  favor, 
as  you  know,  the  highest  w^ith  our  sovereigns.  They 
have  dispatched  him  again  to  those  regions,  fur- 
nished with  a  fleet  of  eighteen  ships.  There  is  pros- 
pect of  great  discoveries  at  the  western  antarctic  an- 
tipodes." ^ 

In  a  subsequent  letter  to  Pomponius  Laetus,  dated 
from  Alcala  de  Henares,  December  9th,  1494,  he 
gives  the  first  news  of  the  success  of  this  expedition. 

"  Spain,"  says  he,  is  spreading  her  wings,  aug- 
menting her  empire,  and  extending  her  name  and 

glory  to  the  antipodes  Of  eighteen 

vessels  dispatched  by  my  sovereigns  with  the  admiral 
Columbus,  in  his  second  voyage  to  the  western  hem- 
isphere, twelve  have  returned  and  have  brought  Gos- 
sampine  cotton,  huge  trees  of  dye-wood,  and  many 
other  articles  held  with  us  as  precious,  the  natural 
productions  of  that  hitherto  hidden  world  ;  and  be- 
sides all  other  things,  no  small  quantity  of  gold.  O 
wonderful,  Pomponius  !  Upon  the  surface  of  that 
earth  are  found  rude  masses  of  native  gold,  of  a 
weight  that  one  is  afraid  to  mention.  Some  weigh 
two  hundred  and  fifty  ounces,  and  they  hope  to  dis- 
cover others  of  a  much  larger  size,  fi:-om  what  the 
naked  natives  intimate,  when  they  extol  their  gold  to 
our  people.  Nor  are  the  Lestrigonians  nor  Poly- 
phemi,  who  feed  on  human  flesh,  any  longer  doubtful. 
Mtend  —  I;iit  beware !  lest  they  rise  in  horror  be- 
fore thee  1  When  he  proceeded  from  the  Fortunate 
1  Opus  Epis.  P.  Martyris  Anglerii,  Epist.  141. 


536 


APPENDIX. 


Islands,  now  termed  the  Canaries,  to  Hlspaniola,  the 
island  on  which  he  first  set  foot,  turning  his  prow  a 
little  toward  the  south,  he  arrived  at  innumerable  isl- 
ands of  savage  men,  whom  they  call  cannibals,  or 
Caribbees  ;  and  these,  though  naked,  are  courageous 
warriors.  Tiiey  fight  skillfully  with  bows  and  clubs, 
and  have  boats  hollowed  from  a  single  tree,  yet  ver} 
capacious,  in  which  they  make  fierce  descents  on 
neighboring  islands,  inhabited  by  milder  people. 
They  attack  their  villages,  from  which  they  carry 
off  the  men  and  devour  them,"  &c.^ 

Another  letter  to  Pomponius  Laetus,  on  the  same 
subject,  has  been  cited  at  large  in  the  body  of  this 
work.  It  is  true  these  extracts  give  nothing  that  has 
not  been  stated  more  at  large  in  the  Decades  of  the 
same  author,  but  they  are  curious,  as  the  very  first 
announcements  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  and 
as  showing  the  first  stamp  of  these  extraordinary 
events  upon  the  mind  of  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
liberal  men  of  the  age. 

A  collection  of  the  letters  of  Peter  Martyr  was 
published  in  1530,  under  the  title  of  Opus  Episto- 
larum,  Petri  Martyris  Anglerii ;  it  is  divided  into 
thirty-eight  books,  each  containing  the  letters  of  one 
year.  The  same  objections  have  been  made  to  his 
letters  as  to  his  Decades,  but  they  bear  the  same 
stamp  of  candor,  probity,  and  great  information. 
They  possess  peculiar  value  froui  being  written  at  the 
moment,  before  the  facts  they  record  were  distorted 
or  discolored  by  prejudice  or  misrepresentaticn.  Ilia 
works  abound  in  interesting  particulars  not  to  be 
found  in  any  contemporary  historian.  They  are  rich 
in  thought,  but  still  richer  in  fact,  and  are  full  of  ur- 
banity, and  of  the  liberal  feeling  of  a  scholar  who  has 
mingled  with  the  world.  He  is  a  fountain  from  which 
1  Opus  Epist.  P.  Martyris  Anglerii,  Epist.  147. 


APPENDIX. 


537 


othei-s  draw,  and  from  which,  with  a  little  precaution, 
they  may  draw  securely.  He  died  in  Valladolid.  in 
1526 


No.  XXX. 

OVIEDO. 

GoNZALO  Fernandez  de  Oviedo  y  Yaldeh, 
commonly  known  as  Oviedo,  was  born  in  Madrid  in 
1478,  and  died  in  Valladolid  in  1557,  aged  seventy- 
nine  years.  He  was  of  a  noble  Asturian  family  and 
in  his  boyhood  (in  1490)  was  appointed  one  of  the 
pages  to  Prince  Juan,  heir  apparent  of  Spain,  the 
only  son  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  He  was  in  this 
situation  at  the  time  of  the  siege  and  surrender  of 
Granada,  was  consequently  at  court  at  the  time  that 
Columbus  made  his  agreement  with  the  Catholic  sov- 
ereigns, and  was  in  the  same  capacity  at  Barcelona, 
and  witnessed  the  triumphant  entrance  of  the  dis- 
coverer, attended  by  a  number  of  the  natives  of  the 
newly  found  countries. 

In  1513,  he  was  sent  out  to  the  New  World  by 
Ferdinand,  to  superintend  the  gold  foundries.  For 
many  years  he  served  there  in  various  offices  of  trust 
and  dignity,  both  under  Ferdinand,  and  his  grandson 
And  successor  Charles  Y.  In  1535,  he  was  made  al- 
ca}'de  of  the  fortress  of  St.  Domingo  in  Hispaniola, 
and  afterwards  was  appointed  historiographer  of  the 
indies.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  he  had  served  the 
crown  upwards  of  forty  years,  thirty-four  of  which 
were  passed  in  the  colonies,  and  he  had  crossed  the 
ocean  eight  times,  as  he  mentions  in  various  parts  of 
his  writings     He  wrote  several  works  ;  the  most  ini« 


538 


APPENDIX. 


portant  is  a  chronicle  of  the  Indies  In  fifty  books, 
divided  into  three- parts.  The  first  part,  containing 
nineteen  books,  was  printed  at  Seville  in  1585,  and 
reprinted  in  3  547  at  Salamanca,  augmented  by  a 
twentieth  book  containing  shipwrecks.  The  remain- 
der of  the  work  exists  in  manuscript.  The  printing 
of  it  was  commenced  at  Valladolid  in  1557,  but  was 
dif^continued  in  consequence  of  his  death.  It  is  one 
of  the  unpublished  treasures  of  Spanish  colonial  his- 
tory. 

He  was  an  indefatigable  writer,  laborious  in  col- 
lecting and  recording  facts,  and  composed  a  multitude 
of  volumes  which  are  scattered  through  the  Spanish 
libraries.  His  writings  are  full  of  events  which  hap- 
pened under  his  own  eye,  or  were  communicated  to 
him  by  eye-witnesses;  but  he  was  deficient  in  judg- 
ment and  discrimination.  He  took  his  facts  without 
caution,  and  often  from  sources  unworthy  of  credit. 
In  his  account  of  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus,  he 
falls  into  several  egregious  errors,  in  consequence  of 
taking  the  verbal  information  of  a  pilot  named  Her- 
nan  Perez  Matteo,  who  was  in  the  interest  of  the 
Pinzons,  and  adverse  to  the  admiral.  His  work  is 
not  much  to  be  depended  upon  in  matters  relative  to 
Columbus.  When  he  treats  of  a  more  advanced 
period  of  the  New  World,  from  his  own  actual  obser- 
vation, he  is  much  more  satisfactory,  though  he  is 
accused  of  listening  too  readily  to  popular  fables  and 
misrepresentations.  His  account  of  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  the  New  World,  and  of  the  customs  of 
its  inhabitants,  is  full  of  curious  particulars  ;  and  the 
best  narratives  of  some  of  the  minor  voyages  which 
succeeded  those  of  Columbus,  are  to  be  found  in  tha 
nnpublished  pait  of  his  work. 


APPENDIX. 


539 


No.  XXXI. 

CURA  DE  LOS  PALACIOS. 

AxDRES  Bernaldes,  or  Bernal,  generally  knowc 
by  the  title  of  the  curate  of  Los  Palacios,  from  hav« 
ing  been  curate  of  the  town  of  Los  Palacios,  from 
about  1488  to  1513,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Fuentes, 
and  was  for  some  time  chaplain  to  Diego  Deza,  arch- 
bishop of  Seville,  one  of  the  greatest  friends  to  the 
application  of  Columbus.  Bernaldes  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  admiral,  who  was  occasionally  his 
guest,  and  in  1496,  left  many  of  his  manuscripts  and 
journals  with  him,  which  the  curate  made  use  of  in 
a  history  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in 
which  he  introduced  an  account  of  the  voyages  of 
Columbus.  In  his  narrative  of  the  admiraFs  coasting 
along  the  southern  side  of  Cuba,  the  curate  is  more 
jainute  and  accurate  than  any  other  historian.  His 
work  exists  only  in  manuscript,  but  is  well  known  to 
historians,  who  have  made  frequent  use  of  it.  Noth- 
ing can  be  more  simple  and  artless  than  the  account 
which  the  honest  curate  gives  of  his  being  first  moved 
to  undertake  his  chronicle.  I  who  wrote  these 
chapters  of  memoirs,"  he  says,  "  being  for  twelve 
years  in  the  habit  of  reading  a  register  of  my  de- 
ceased grandfather,  who  was  notary  public  of  the 
town  of  Fuentes,  where  I  was  born,  I  found  therein 
several  chapters  recording  certain  events  and  achieve- 
ments,  which  had  taken  place  in  his  time  ;  and  my 
grandmother  his  widow,  who  was  very  old,  hearing 
me  read  them  said  to  me,  *  And  thou,  my  son,  since 
thou  art  not  slothful  in  writing,  why  dost  thou  not 
iv^rite,  in  this  manner,  the  good  things  which  are  hap- 
Dening  jt  present  in  thy  own  day,  that  those  v/ho 


540 


APPENDIX, 


come  liereafter  may  know  them,  and  marvding  at 
what  they  read  may  render  thanks  to  God.' 

"  From  that  time,"  continues  he,  "  I  proposed  to  do 
so,  and  as  I  considered  the  matter,  I  said  often  to 
myself,  '  if  God  gives  me  hfe  and  health  I  will  con- 
tinue to  write  until  I  behold  the  kingdom  of  Granada 
gained  by  the  Christians  ; '  and  I  always  entertained 
a  hope  of  seeing  it,  and  did  see  it :  great  thanks  and 
praises  be  given  to  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ !  And 
because  it  was  impossible  to  write  a  complete  and 
connected  account  of  all  things  that  happened  in 
Spain,  during  the  matrimonial  union  of  the  King 
Don  Ferdinand,  and  the  Queen  Dona  Isabella,  I 
wrote  only  about  certain  of  the  most  striking  and 
remarkable  events,  of  which  I  had  correct  informa- 
tion, and  of  those  which  I  saw  or  which  were  public 
and  notorious  to  all  men."  ^ 

The  work  of  the  worthy  curate,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  foregoing  statement,  is  deficient  in  regular- 
ity of  plan  ;  the  style  is  artless  and  often  inelegant, 
but  it  abounds  in  facts  not  to  be  met  with  elsewhere, 
often  given  in  a  very  graphical  manner,  and  strongly 
characteristic  of  the  times.  As  he  was  contemporary 
with  the  events  and  familiar  with  many  of  the  per- 
sons of  his  history,  and  as  he  was  a  man  of  probity 
and  void  of  all  pretension,  his  manuscript  is  a  docu- 
ment of  high  authenticity.  He  was  much  respected 
in  the  limited  sphere  in  which  he  moved,  "  yet,"  says 
one  of  his  admirers,  who  wrote  a  short  preface  to  his 
chronicle,  "  he  had  no  other  reward  than  that  of  the 
curacy  of  Los  Palacios,  and  the  place  of  chaplain  to 
the  Archbishop  Don  Diego  Deza." 

In  the  possession  of  O.  Rich,  Esq.,  of  Aladrid,  is  a 
very  curious  manuscript  chronicle  of  the  reign  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  already  quoted  in  this  woik 
1  Cura  de  Los  Palacios,  cap.  7. 


APPENDIX. 


5U 


made  up  froiu  this  liistory  of  the  curate  of  Los  Pa- 
lacios,  and  from  various  other  historians  of  the  times, 
by  some  contemporary  writer.  In  his  account  of  the 
voyage  of  Columbus,  lie  differs  in  some  trivial  partic- 
ulars from  the  regular  copy  of  the  manuscript  of  the 
curate.  These  variations  have  been  carefully  exam- 
ined by  the  author  of  this  work,  and  wherever  they 
appear  to  be  for  the  better,  have  been  adopted. 


No.  XXXII. 

"  NAVIOATIONE  DEL  RE  DE  CASTIGLIA  BELLE  ISOLE 
E  PAESE  NUOVAMENTE  RITROVATE." 

"  NAVIGATIO  CHRISTOPHORI  COLOMBI." 

Tn^T,  above  are  the  titles,  in  Italian  and  in  Latin, 
of  the  earliest  narratives  of  the  first  and  second  voy- 
ages of  Columbus  that  appeared  in  print.  It  was 
anonymous  ;  and  there  are  some  curious  particulars 
in  regard  to  it.  It  was  originally  written  in  Italian 
by  Montalbodo  Fracanzo,  or  Fracanzano,  or  by 
Fra^capano  de  Montabaldo,  (for  writers  differ  in  re- 
gard to  the  name,)  and  was  published  in  Yicenza,  in 
1507,  in  a  collection  of  voyages,  entitled  Mondo 
Novo,  8  Paese  Nuovamente  Ritrovate.  The  collec- 
tion was  republished  at  Milan,  in  1508,  both  in 
Italian.,  and  in  a  Latin  translation  made  by  Archan- 
gel© Madrignano,  under  the  title  of  Itinerarium  Por- 
tugallensium ;  this  title  being  given,  because  the 
work  related  chiefly  to  the  voyages  of  Luigi  Cada- 
mosto,  a  Venetian  in  the  service  of  Portugal. 

The  collection  was    afterwards    augmented  by 


542 


APPENL.X, 


Simon  Grinseus  with  other  travels,  and  printed  in 
Latin  at  Basle,  in  1533,^  by  Hervagio,  <.ntitled 
Noviis  Orbis  Eegionum,  &c.  The  edition  of  Basle, 
1555,  and  the  Italian  edition  of  Milan,  1508,  have 
been  consulted  in  the  course  of  this  work. 

Peter  Martyr  (Decad.  2,  Cap.  7)  alludes  to  this 
publication,  under  the  first  Latin  title  of  the  book, 
Itinerarium  Portugallensium,  and  accuses  the  author, 
whom  by  mistake  he  terms  Cadamosto,  of  having 
stolen  the  materials  of  his  book  from  the  three  first 
chapters  of  his  first  Decade  of  the  Ocean,  of  which, 
he  says,  he  granted  copies  in  manuscript  to  several 
persons,  and  in  particular  to  certain  Venetian  am- 
bassadors. Martyr's  Decades  were  not  published 
until  1516,  excepting  the  first  three,  which  were  pub 
lished  in  1511,  at  Seville. 

This  narrative  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus  is  re- 
ferred to  by  Gio.  Batista  Spotorno,  in  his  historical 
memoir  of  Columbus,  as  having  been  written  by  a 
companion  of  Columbus. 

It  is  manifest,  from  a  perusal  of  the  narrative,  that 
though  the  author  may  have  helped  himself  freely 
from  the  manuscript  of  Martyr,  he  must  have  had 
other  sources  of  information.  His  description  of  the 
person  of  Columbus  as  a  man  tall  of  stature  and 
large  of  frame,  of  a  ruddy  complexion  and  oblong 
visage,  is  not  copied  from  Martyr,  nor  from  any 
other  writer.  No  historian  had,  indeed,  preceded 
him,  except  Sabellicus,  in  1504 ;  and  the  portrait 
agrees  with  that  subsequently  given  of  Columbus  in 
the  biography  written  by  his  son. 

It  is  probable  that  this  narrative,  which  appeared 
only  a  year  after  the  death  of  Columbus,  was  a 
piece  of  literary  job-work,  written  fcr  the  collc<jtion 
of  voyages  published  at  Vicenza ;  and  that  the  ma- 
i  Bibliotheca  Piiiello. 


APPENDIX, 


543 


terials  were  taken  from  oral  communication,  from 
the  account  given  by  Sabellicus,  and  particularly 
from  the  manuscript  copy  of  Martyr's  first  decade. 


No.  XXXIII. 

ANTONIO   DE  HERRERA. 

Antonio  Herrera  de  Tordesillas,  one  of  tl  e 
authors  most  frequently  cited  in  this  work,  was  born 
in  1565,  of  Roderick  Tordesillas,  and  Agnes  de 
Herrera,  his  wife.  He  received  an  excellent  edu- 
cation, and  entered  into  the  employ  of  Vespasian 
Gonzago,  brother  to  the  duke  of  Mantua,  who  wfs 
viceroy  of  Naples  for  Philip  the  Second  of  Spain. 
He  was  for  some  time  secretary  to  this  statesman, 
and  intrusted  with  all  his  secrets.  He  was  after- 
wards grand  historiographer  of  the  Indies  to  Philip 
II.,  who  added  to  that  title  a  large  pension.  He 
wrote  various  books,  but  the  most  celebrated  is  a 
Q^eneral  History  of  the  Indies,  or  American  Colonies, 
in  four  volumes,  containing  eight  decades.  When 
he  undertook  this  work,  all  the  public  archives  were 
thrown  open  to  him,  and  he  had  access  to  documents 
of  all  kinds.  He  has  been  charged  with  great  pre- 
cipitation in  the  production  of  his  two  first  volumes, 
and  with  negligence  in  not  making  suflacient  use  of 
the  indisputable  sources  of  information  thus  placed 
within  his  reach.  The  fact  was,  that  he  met  with 
historical  tracts  lying  in  manuscript,  which  embraced 
a  great  part  of  the  first  discoveries,  and  he  contented 
himself  with  stating  events  as  he  found  them  therein 
recorded.  It  is  certain  that  a  great  part  of  his 
«rork  is=  little  more  than  a  transcript  of  the  manu 


APPENDIX. 


script  history  of  the  Indies  by  Las  Casas,  sometimea 
reducing  and  improving  the  Language  when  tumid 
omitting  the  impassioned  sallies  of  the  zealous  father, 
when  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians  were  in  question  ; 
and  suppressing  various  circumstances  degrading  to 
the  character  of  the  Spanish  discoverers.  The 
author  of  the  present  work  has,  therefore,  frequently 
put  aside  the  history  of  Herrera,  and  consulted  the 
Bource  of  his  information,  the  manuscript  history  of 
Las  Casas. 

Munoz  observes,  that  "  in  general  Herrera  did 
little  more  than  join  together  morsels  and  extracts, 
taken  from  various  parts,  in  the  way  that  a  writer 
arranges  chronologically  the  materials  from  which  he 
intends  to  compose  a  history  ;  "  he  adds,  that  "  had 
not  Herrera  been  a  learned  and  judicious  man,  the 
precipitation  with  which  he  put  together  these  ma- 
terials would  have  led  to  innumerable  errors."  The 
remark  is  just ;  yet  it  is  to  be  considered,  that  to 
select  and  arrange  such  materials  judiciously,  and 
treat  them  learnedly,  was  no  trifling  merit  in  the 
historian. 

Herrera  has  been  accused  also  of  flattering  his 
nation ;  exalting  the  deeds  of  his  countrymen,  an(i 
softening  and  concealing  their  excesses.  There  is 
nothing  very  serious  in  this  accusation.  To  illus- 
trate the  glory  of  his  nation  is  one  of  the  noblest 
offices  of  the  historian  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
1<X)  highly  of  the  extraordinary  enterprises  and 
gplendid  actions  of  the  Spaniards  in  those  days.  In 
softening  their  excesses  he  fell  into  an  amiable  and 
pardonable  error,  if  it  were  indeed  an  error  for  a 
Spanish  writer  to  endeavor  to  sink  them  in  oblivion. 

Vossius  passes  a  high  eulogium  on  Herrera.  "  No 
one,"  he  says,  "  has  described  with  greater  industry 
and  fidelity  the  magnitude  and  boundaries  of  prov« 


APPENDIX. 


545 


inces,  the  tracts  of  sea,  positions  of  capes  and  .isl- 
ands, of  ports  and  harbors,  the  windings  of  rivers 
and  dimensions  of  lakes ;  the  situation  and  peculiari- 
ties of  regions,  with  the  appearance  of  the  heavens, 
and  the  designation  of  places  suitable  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  cities."  He  has  been  called  among  the 
Spaniards  the  prince  of  the  historians  of  America., 
and  it  is  added  that  none  have  risen  since  his  time 
capable  of  disputing  with  him  that  title.  Much  of 
this  praise  will  appear  exaggerated  by  such  as  ex- 
amine the  manuscript  histories  from  which  he  trans- 
ferred chapters  and  entire  books,  with  very  little 
alteration,  to  his  volumes  ;  and  a  great  part  of  the 
eulogiums  passed  on  him  for  his  work  on  the  Indies, 
will  be  found  really  due  to  Las  Casas,  who  has  too 
long  been  eclipsed  by  his  copyist.  Still  Herrera  has 
left  voluminous  proofs  of  industrious  research,  ex- 
tensive information,  and  great  literary  talent.  His 
works  bear  the  mark  of  candor,  integrity,  and  a 
sincere  desire  to  record  the  truth. 

He  died  In  1625,  at  sixty  years  of  age,  after  hav- 
ing obtained  from  Philip  IV.  the  promise  of  the  first 
charge  of  secretary  of  state  that  should  become 
vacant. 


No.  XXXIY. 

BISHOP  FONSECA. 

The  singular  malevolence  displayed  by  Bishop 
Juan  Kodriguez  de  Fonseca  toward  Columbus  and 
his  family,  and  which  was  one  of  the  secret  and 
principal  causes  of  their  misfortunes,  has  been  fre- 
quently noticed  in  the  course  of  this  work.  It  orig- 
voL.  III.  35 


546 


APPENDIX. 


inateJ,  as  has  been  shown,  in  some  dispute  between 
the  admiral  and  Fonseca  at  Seville  in  1493,  on  ac- 
count of  the  delay  in  fitting  out  the  armament  for 
the  second  voyage,  and  in  regard  to  the  number  of 
domestics  to  form  the  household  of  the  admiral. 
Fonseca  received  a  letter  from  the  sovereigns,  tacitly 
reproving  him,  and  ordering  him  to  show  all  possible 
attention  to  the  wishes  of  Columbus,  and  to  see  that 
he  was  treated  with  honor  and  deference.  Fonseca 
never  forgot  this  affront,  and,  what  with  him  was  the 
game  thing,  never  forgave  it.  His  spirit  appears  to 
have  been  of  that  unhealthy  kind  which  has  none 
of  the  balm  of  forgiveness ;  and  in  which,  a  wound 
once  made,  forever  rankles.  The  hostility  thus  pro- 
duced continued  with  increasing  virulence  through- 
out the  life  of  Columbus,  and  at  his  death  was 
transferred  to  his  son  and  successor.  This  perse- 
vering animosity  has  been  illustrated  in  the  course 
of  this  work  by  facts  and  observations,  cited  from 
authors,  some  of  them  contemporary  with  Fonseca, 
but  who  were  apparently  restrained  by  motives  of 
prudence,  from  giving  full  vent  to  the  indignation 
which  they  evidently  felt.  Even  at  the  present  day^ 
a  Spanish  historian  would  be  cautious  of  expressing 
his  feelings  freely  on  the  subject,  lest  they  should 
prejudice  his  work  in  the  eyes  of  the  ecclesiastical 
censors  of  the  press.  In  this  way,  Bishop  Fonseca 
has  in  a  great  measure  escaped  the  general  odium 
his  conduct  merited. 

This  prelate  had  the  chief  superintendence  of 
Spanish  colonial  affairs,  both  under  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  He  was  an 
active  and  intrepid,  but  selfish,  overbearing,  and  per-- 
fidious  man.  His  administration  beat's  no  marks  of 
enlarged  and  liberal  policy  ;  but  is  full  of  traits  of 
arrogance  and  meanness     He  opposed  the  benevo- 


APPENDIX. 


547 


lent  attempts  of  Las  Casas  to  ameliorate  the  con- 
dition of  the  Indiana,  and  to  obtain  the  aboliticm  of 
repartimientos  ;  treating  him  with  personal  haugh- 
tiness and  asperity.^  The  reason  assigned  is  that 
Fonseca  was  enriching  himself  by  those  viiry  abuses, 
retainino;  laro-e  numbers  of  the  miserable  Indians  in 
slavery,  to  work  on  his  possessions  in  the  colonies. 

To  show  that  his  character  has  not  been  judged 
with  undue  severity,  it  is  expedient  to  point  out  his 
invidious  and  persecuting  conduct  towards  Hernando 
Cortez.  The  bishop,  while  ready  to  foster  rambling 
adventurers  who  came  forward  under  his  patronage, 
had  never  the  head  or  the  heart  to  -appreciate  the 
merits  of  illustrious  commanders  like  Columbus  and 
Cortez. 

At  a  time  when  disputes  arose  between  Cortez 
and  Diego  Velazquez,  governor  of  Cuba,  and  the 
latter  sought  to  arrest  the  conqueror  of  Mexico  in 
the  midst  of  his  brilliant  career,  Fonseca,  with  entire 
disregard  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  took  a  decided 
part  in  favor  of  Velazquez.  Personal  interest  was 
at  the  bottom  of  this  favor ;  for  a  marriage  was 
negotiating  between  Velazquez  and  a  sister  of  the 
bishop.^  Complaints  and  misrepresentations  had 
been  sent  to  Spain  by  Velazquez  of  the  conduct 
of  Cortez,  who  was  represented  as  a  lawless  and  un- 
principled adventurer,  attempting  to  usurp  absolute 
authority  in  New  Spain.  The  true  services  of  Cortez 
had  already  excited  admiration  at  court,  but  such 
was  the  influence  of  Fonseca,  that,  as  in  the  case  of 
Columbus,  he  succeeded  in  prejudicing  the  mind  of 
the  sovereign  against  one  of  the  most  meritorious 
of  his  subjects.  One  Chrlstoval  de  Tapia,  a  man 
destitute  of  talent  or  character,  but  whose  greatest 

1  Herrera,  decad.  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  3. 

2  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  iii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  3. 


548 


APPENDIX. 


recommendation  was  his  having  been  in  the  employ 
csf  the  bishop/  was  invested  with  powers  similar  to 
those  once  given  to  Bobadilla  to  the  prejudice  of 
Columbus.  He  was  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of 
Cortez,  and  in  case  he  thought  fit,  to  seize  him, 
sequestrate  his  property,  and  supersede  him  in  com- 
mand. Not  content  with  the  regular  official  letters 
furnished  to  Tapia,  the  bishop,  shortly  after  his  de- 
parture, sent  out  Juan  Bono  de  Quexo  with  blank 
letters  signed  by  his  own  hand,  and  with  others 
directed  to  various  persons,  charging  them  to  admit 
Tapia  for  governor,  and  assuring  them  that  the  king 
considered  the  conduct  of  Cortez  as  disloyal.  Noth- 
ing but  the  sagacity  and  firmness  of  Cortez  pre- 
vented this  measure  from  completely  interrupting, 
if  not  defeating  his  enterprises ;  and  he  afterwards 
declared,  that  he  had  experienced  more  trouble 
and  difficulty  from  the  menaces  and  affi-onts  of  the 
ministers  of  the  king  than  it  cost  him  to  conquer 
Mexico.^ 

When  the  dispute  between  Cortez  and  Velazquez 
came  to  be  decided  upon  in  Spain,  in  1522,  the 
father  of  Cortez,  and  those  who  had  come  from  New 
Spain  as  his  procurators,  obtained  permission  from 
Cardinal  Adrian,  at  that  time  governor  of  the  realm, 
to  prosecute  a  public  accusation  of  the  bishop.  A 
regular  investigation  took  place  before  the  council 
of  the  Indies  of  their  allegations  against  its  president 
They  charged  him  with  having  publicly  declared 
Cortez  a  traitor  and  a  rebel :  with  having  inter- 
'iepted  and  suppressed  his  letters  addressed  to  the 
king,  keeping  his  majesty  in  ignorance  of  their  con- 
tents, and  of  the  important  services  he  had  per- 
formed, while  he  dihgently  forwarded    all  letters 

1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  iii.  lib.  i.  cap.  15. 

2  Idem,  decad.  iii.  lib.  iv-  cap.  3. 


APPENDIX. 


549 


ealcalated  to  promote  the  Interest  of  \'elaz({uez 
with  having  prevented  the  representations  of  Cortez 
from  being  heard  in  the  council  of  the  Indies,  de- 
chxring  that  they  shouhl  never  be  heard  there  while 
he  lived  ;  witli  having  interdicted  the  forwarding  of 
arms,  merchandise,  and  reinforcements  to  New  Spain 
and  with  having  issued  orders  to  the  office  of  the 
India  House  at  Seville  to  arrest  the  procurators  of 
Cortez  and  all  persons  arriving  from  him,  and  to 
seize  and  detain  all  gold  that  they  should  bring. 
These  and  various  other  charges  of  similar  nature 
were  dispassionately  investigated.  Enough  were 
substantiated  to  convict  Fonseca  of  the  most  partial, 
oppressive,  and  perfidious  conduct,  and  the  cardinal 
consequently  forbade  him  to  interfere  in  the  cause 
between  Cortez  and  Velazquez,  and  revoked  all  the 
orders  which  the  bishop  had  issued,  in  the  matter, 
to  the  India  House  of  Seville.  Indeed  Salazar,  a 
Spanish  historian,  says  that  Fonseca  was  totally  di- 
vested of  his  authority  as  president  of  the  council, 
and  of  all  control  of  the  affairs  of  New  Spain,  and 
adds  that  he  was  so  mortified  at  the  blow,  that  it 
brought  on  a  fit  of  illness,  which  well-nigh  cost  him 
his  life.-^ 

The  suit  between  Cortez  and  Velazquez  was 
referred  to  a  special  tribunal,  composed  of  the 
grand  chancellor  and  other  persons  of  note,  and 
was  decided  in  1522.  The  Influence  and  intrigues 
of  Fonseca  being  no  longer  of  avail,  a  triumphant 
verdict  was  given  in  favor  of  Cortez.  which  was 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and 
additional  honors  awarded  him.  This  was  another 
blow  to  the  malignant  Fonseca,  who  retained  his 
enmity  against  Cortez  until  his  last  moment,  ren- 
dered still  more  rancorous  by  mortification  and  dis* 
jippointment. 

1  Salazar,  Conq.  de  Mexico,  lib.  i.  cap.  2. 


550 


APPENDIX. 


A  charge  against  Fonseca,  of  a  still  darker  nature 
than  any  of  the  preceding,  may  be  found  lurking  in 
the  pages  of  Herrera,  though  so  obscure  as  to  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  succeeding  historians.  lie 
points  to  the  bisliop  as  the  instigator  of  a  desperate 
and  perfidious  man,  who  conspired  against  the  life  of 
Hernando  Cortez.  This  was  one  Antonio  de  Yilla- 
fana,  who  fomented  a  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Cortez, 
and  elect  Francisco  Yerdujo,  brother-in-law  of  Ve- 
lazquez, in  his  place.  While  the  conspirators  were 
waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  poniard  Cortez,  one  of 
them  relenting,  apprised  him  of  his  danger.  Yilla- 
fana  was  arrested.  He  attempted  to  swallow  a  paper 
containing  a  list  of  the  conspirators,  but  being  seized 
by  the  throat,  a  part  of  it  was  forced  from  his  mouth 
containing  fourteen  names  of  persons  of  importance. 
Villafana  confessed  his  guilt,  but  tortures  could  not 
make  him  inculpate  the  persons  whose  names  were  on 
the  list,  who  he  declared  were  ignorant  of  the  plot 
He  was  hanged  by  order  of  Cortez.^ 

In  the  investigation  of  the  disputes  between  Cortez 
and  Velazquez,  this  execution  of  Villafana  was  mag- 
nified into  a  cruel  and  wanton  act  of  power ;  and  in 
their  eagerness  to  criminate  Cortez  the  witnesses  on 
the  part  of  Alvarez  declared  that  Villafana  had  been 
instigated  to  what  he  had  done  by  letters  from  Bishop 
Fonseca  !  (Que  se  movid  a  lo  que  hizo  con  cartas 
del  obispo  de  Burgos.)  ^  It  is  not  probable  that  Fon- 
seca had  recommended  assassination,  but  it  shows  the 
character  of  his  agents,  and  what  must  have  been 
tliB  malignant  nature  of  his  instructions,  when  these 
men  thought  that  such  an  act  would  accomplish  his 
mshes. 

Fonseca  died  at  Burgos,  on  the  4th  of  November, 
155-4,  and  was  interred  at  Coca. 

1  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  decad.  iii.  lib.  i.  cap  1 

2  Idem,  decad.  iii.  hb.  iv.  cap.  3. 


APPENDIX, 


551 


No.  XXXV. 

TJIE  SITUATION  OF  THE  TERRESTRIAL  PARADISE, 

The  speculations  of  Columbus  on  the  situation  of 
the  terrestrial  paradise,  extravagant  as  they  may  ap 
pear,  were  such  as  have  occupied  many  grave  and 
learned  men.  A  slight  notice  of  their  opinions  on 
this  curious  subject  may  be  acceptable  to  the  general 
reader,  and  may  take  from  the  apparent  wildness  of 
the  ideas  expressed  by  Columbus. 

The  abode  of  our  first  parents  was  anciently  the 
mbject  of  anxious  inquiry ;  and  indeed  mankind  have 
always  been  prone  to  picture  some  place  of  perfect 
felicity,  where  the  imagination,  disappointed  in  the 
^.oarse  realities  of  life,  might  revel  in  an  Elysium  of 
<ts  own  creation.  It  is  an  idea  not  confined  to  our 
♦'eligion,  but  is  found  in  the  rude  creeds  of  the  most 
ravage  nations,  and  it  prevaile(f  generally  among  the 
indents.  The  speculations  concerning  the  situation 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  resemble  those  of  the  Greeks 
concerning  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides ;  that  region 
of  delight,  which  they  forever  placed  at  the  most 
remote  verge  of  the  known  world  ;  which  their  poets 
embellished  with  all  the  charms  of  fiction  ;  after 
which  they  were  continually  longing,  and  which  they 
could  never  find.  At  one  time  it  was  in  the  Grand 
Oasis  of  Arabia.  The  exhausted  travellers,  after 
traversing  the  parched  and  sultry  desert,  hailed  this 
verdant  spot  with  rapture ;  they  refreshed  themselves 
under  its  shady  bowers,  and  beside  its  cooling  streams, 
as  the  crew  of.  a  tempest-tost  vessel  repose  on  the 
shores  of  some  green  island  in  the  deep  ;  and  from 
its  being  thus  isolated  in  the  midst  of  an  ccean  of 
Band,  they  gave  it  the  name  of  the  Island  of  the 


552 


APPENDIX. 


Blessed.  A.s  geographical  knowledge  increased,  tha 
situation  of  the  Hesperian  gardens  was  continually 
removed  to  a  greater  distance.  It  was  transferred 
to  the  borders  of  the  Great  Syrtls,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Mount  Atlas.  Here,  after  traversing  the 
frightful  deserts  of  Barca,  the  traveller  found  himself 
in  a  fair  and  fertile  country,  Avatered  by  rivulets  and 
gushing  fountains.  The  oranges  and  citrons  trans- 
ported hence  to  Greece,  where  they  were  as  yet  un- 
known, delighted  the  Athenians  by  their  golden 
beauty  and  delicious  flavor,  and  they  thought  that 
none  but  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides  could  produce 
Buch  glorious  fruits.  In  this  way  the  happy  region 
of  the  ancients  was  transported  from  place  to  place, 
still  in  the  remote  and  obscure  extremity  of  the 
world,  until  it  was  fabled  to  exist  in  the  Canaries, 
thence  called  the  Fortunate  or  the  Hesperian  Islands. 
Here  it  remained,  because  discovery  advanced  no 
farther,  and  because  these  islands  were  so  distant, 
and  so  little  known,  as  to  allow  full  latitude  to  the 
fictions  of  the  poet.-"- 

In  like  manner  the  situation  of  the  terrestrial  para- 
dise, or  garden  of  Eden,  was  long  a  subject  of  earnest 
inquiry  and  curious  disputation,  and  occupied  the  la- 
borious attention  of  the  most  learned  theologians. 
Some  placed  it  in  Palestine  or  the  Holy  Land ;  others 
in  Mesopotamia,  in  that  rich  and  beautiful  tract  of 
country  embraced  by  the  wanderings  of  the  Tigrla 
and  the  Euphrates ;  others  in  Armenia,  in  a  valley 
surrounded  by  precipitous  and  inaccessible  moun- 
tains, and  imagined  that  Enoch  and  Elijah  were  trans 
ported  thither,  out  of  the  sight  of  mortals,  to  live  in 
a  state  of  terrestrial  bliss  until  the  second  coming  of 
our  Saviour.  There  were  others  who  gave  it  situa- 
Uons  widely  remote,  such  as  in  the  Trapoban  of  'ihe 
1  Gosselin,  Kecherches  sur  la  Geog.  des  Anciens,  torn.  1. 


APPENDIX. 


553 


Jtnck>iits,  at  present  known  as  the  i5laA(^  of  Ceylon 
or  in  the  Ishind  of  Sumatra  ;  or  in  the  Fortunate  or 
Canary  Islands  ;  or  in  one  of  the  islands  of  Sunda ; 
or  in  some  fovored  spot  under  the  equinoctial  line. 

Great  difficulty  was  encountered  by  these  specula- 
tors to  reconcile  the  allotted  place  with  the  descrip- 
tion given  in  Genesis  of  the  garden  of  Eden  ;  partic- 
ularly of  the  great  fountain  which  watered  it,  and 
which  afterwards  divided  itself  into  four  rivers,  the 
Pison  or  Phison,  the  Gihon,  the  Euphrates,  and  the 
Hiddekel.  Those  who  were  in  favor  of  the  Holy 
Land  supposed  that  the  Jordan  was  the  great  river 
which  afterwards  divided  itself  into  the  Phison,  Gihon, 
Tigris,  and  Euphrates,  but  that  the  sands  have  choked 
up  the  ancient  beds  by  which  these  streams  were  sup- 
plied ;  that  originally  the  Phison  traversed  Arabia 
Deserta  and  Arabia  Felix,  whence  it  pursued  its 
course  to  the  Gulf  of  Persia  ;  that  the  Gihon  bathed 
northern  or  stony  Arabia  and  fell  into  the  Arabian 
Gulf  or  the  Ked  Sea  ;  that  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Tigris  passed  by  Eden  to  Assyria  and  Chaldea, 
whence  they  discharged  themselves  into  the  Persian 
Gulf 

By  most  of  the  early  commentators  the  river  Gihon 
is  supposed  to  be  the  Nile.  The  source  of  this  river 
was  unknown,  but  was  evidently  far  distant  from  the 
spots  whence  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  arose.  This 
difficulty,  however,  was  ingeniously  overcome,  by  giv* 
ing  it  a  subterranean  course  of  some  hundreds  of 
leagues  from  the  common  fountain,  until  it  issued 
forth  to  daylight  in  Abyssinia.-^  In  like  manner,  sub- 
terranean courses  were  given  to  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates,  passing  under  the  Red  Sea,  until  they 
sprang  forth  in  Armenia,  as  if  just  issuing  from  one 
common  source.  So  also  those  who  placed  the  ter 
1  Feyjoo,  Theatro  Critico,  lib.  vii.  §  2. 


554 


APPENDIX, 


restrlal  paradise  in  islands,  supposed  that  the  rivera 
whicli  issued  from  it,  and  formed  those  heretofore 
named,  either  traversed  the  surface  of  the  sea,  as 
fresh  water,  by  its  greater  lightness,  may  float  above 
the  salt ;  or  that  they  flowed  through  deep  veins  and 
channels  of  the  earth,  as  the  fountain  of  Arethusa 
was  said  to  sink  into  the  ground  in  Greece,  and  rise 
in  the  island  of  Sicily,  while  the  river  Alpheus  pur- 
suing it,  but  with  less  perseverance,  rose  somewhat 
short  of  it  in  the  sea. 

Some  contended  that  the  deluge  had  destroyed  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and  altered  the  whole  face  of  the 
earth ;  so  that  the  rivers  had  changed  their  beds,  and 
had  taken  difl!erent  directions  from  those  mentioned 
in  Genesis  ;  others,  however,  amongst  whom  was  St. 
Augustine,  in  his  commentary  upon  the  book  of 
Genesis,  maintained  that  the  terrestrial  paradise  still 
exists,  with  its  original  beauty  and  delights,  but  that 
it  was  inaccessible  to  mortals,  being  on  the  summit 
of  a  mountain  of  stupendous  height,  reaching  into 
the  third  region  of  the  air,  and  approaching  the 
moon  ;  being  thus  protected  by  its  elevation  from  the 
ravages  of  the  deluge. 

By  some  this  mountain  was  placed  under  the  equi- 
noctial line  ;  or  under  that  band  of  the  heavens  meta- 
phorically called  by  the  ancients  the  table  of  the 
sun,"  ^  comprising  the  space  between  the  tropics  of 
Cancer  and  Capricorn,  beyond  which  the  sun  never 
passed  in  his  annual  course.  Here  would  reign  a 
uniformity  of  nights  and  days  and  seasons,  and  the 
elevation  of  the  mountain  would  raise  it  above  the 
heats  and  storms  .of  the  lower  regions.  Others  trans- 
ported the  garden  beyond  the  equinoctial  line  and 
placed  it  in  the  southern  hemisphere  ;  supposing  that 
the  torrid  zone  might  be  the  flaming  sword  appointed 
Herodot.  lib.  iii.    Virg.  G.  i.   Pomp.  Mela,  lib.  iii.  cap.  10. 


APPENDIX. 


553 


io  lefciid  its  entrance  against  mortals.  They  had  a 
thnclfiil  train  of  argument  to  support  their  theory. 
They  observed  that  the  terrestrial  paradise  musr  be 
in  the  noblest  and  happiest  part  of  the  globe  ;  that 
part  must  be  under  the  noblest  part  of  the  heavens  ; 
as  the  merits  of  a  place  do  not  so  much  depend  upoa 
the  virtues  of  the  earth,  as  upon  the  happy  influences 
of  the  stars  and  the  favorable  and  benign  aspect  of 
the  heavens.  Now,  according  to  philosophers,  the 
world  was  divided  into  two  hemispheres.  The 
soutliern  they  considered  the  head,  and  the  northern 
the  feet,  or  under  part ;  the  right  hand  the  east 
wlience  commenced  the  movement  of  the  primum 
mobile,  and  the  left  the  west,  towards  which  it 
moved.  This  supposed,  they  observed  that  as  it  was 
manifest  that  the  head  of  all  things,  natural  and  arti- 
ficial, is  always  the  best  and  noblest  part,  governing 
the  other  parts  of  the  body,  so  the  south,  being  the 
head  of  the  earth,  ought  to  be  superior  and  nobler 
than  either  east,  or  west,  or  north ;  and  in  accordance 
with  this,  they  cited  the  opinion  of  various  philoso- 
phers among  the  ancients,  and  more  especially  that 
of  Ptolemy,  that  the  stars  of  the  southern  hemisphere 
were  larger,  more  resplendent,  more  perfect,  and  of 
course  of  greater  virtue  and  efficacy  than  those  of  the 
northern :  an  error  universally  prevalent  until  dis- 
proved by  modern  discovery.  Hence  they  concluded 
that  in  this  southern  hemisphere,  in  this  head  of  the 
earth,  under  this  purer  and  brighter  sky,  and  these 
more  potent  and  benignant  stars,  was  placed  the  ter- 
restrial paradise. 

Various  ideas  were  entertained  as  to  the  magni- 
tude of  this  blissful  region.  As  Adam  and  all  his 
progeny  were  to  have  lived  there,  had  he  not  sinned, 
and  as  there  would  have  been  no  such  thing  as  death 
to  thin  the  number  of  mankind,  it  was  inferred  thai 


556 


APPENDIX, 


the  terrestrial  paradise  must  be  of  grtat  extent  to 
contain  them.  Some  gave  it  a  size  equal  to  Europe 
or  Africa ;  others  gave  it  the  whole  southern  hemi- 
sphere. St.  Augustine  supposed  that  as  mankind 
multiplied,  numbers  would  be  translated  without 
death  to  heaven ;  the  parents,  perhaps,  when  their 
children  had  arrived  at  mature  age  ;  or  portions  of 
the  human  race  at  (he  end  of  certain  periods  and 
when  the  population  of  the  terrestrial  paradise  had 
attained  a  certain  amount.-^  Others  supposed  that 
mankind,  remaining  in  a  state  of  primitive  innocence, 
would  not  have  required  so  much  space  as  at  present. 
Having  no  need  of  rearing  animals  for  subsistence, 
no  land  would  have  been  required  for  pasturage  ; 
and  the  earth  not  being  cursed  with  sterility  there 
would  have  been  no  need  of  extensive  tracts  of 
country  to  permit  of  fallow  land  and  the  alternation 
of  crops  required  in  husbandry.  The  spontaneous 
and  never-failing  fruits  of  the  garden  would  have 
been  abundant  ibr  the  simple  wants  of  man.  Still, 
that  the  human  race  might  not  be  crowded,  but 
might  have  ample  space  for  recreation  and  enjoyment, 
and  the  charms  of  variety  and  change,  some  allowed 
at  least  a  hundred  leagues  of  circumference  to  the 
garden. 

St.  Basilius  in  his  eloquent  discourse  on  paradise  ^ 
expatiates  with  rapture  on  the  joys  of  this  sacred 
abode,  elevated  to  the  third  region  of  the  air, 
and  under  the  happiest  skies.  There  a  pure  and 
never-failing  pleasure  is  furnished  to  every  sense 
The  eye  delights  in  the  admirable  clearness  of  tho 

1  St.  August.  lib.  ix.  cap.  6.  Sup.  Genesis. 

2  St.  Basilius  was  called  the  Great.  His  works  were  read 
end  admired  by  all  the  world,  even  by  Pagans.  They  are 
ffritten  in  an  elevated  and  majestic  style,  with  great  splendof 
»f  idea,  and  vast  erudition. 


APPENDIX. 


557 


tttmosplicre,  in  the  verdure  and  beauty  of  the  trees, 
and  the  never-withering  bloom  of  the  flowers.  The 
ear  is  regaled  with  the  singing  of  the  birds,  the  smell 
with  the  aromatie  odors  of  the  land.  In  like  mai 
ner  the  other  senses  have  each  their  peculiar  enjoy- 
ments. There  the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons  are  un- 
known and  the  climate  unites  the  fruitfulness  of  sum- 
mer, the  joyful  abundance  of  autumn,  and  the  sweet 
freshness  and  quietude  of  spring.  There  the  earth  is 
always  green,  the  flowers  are  ever  blooming,  the 
waters  limpid  and  delicate,  not  rushing  in  rude  and 
turbid  torrents,  but  swelling  up  in  crystal  fountains, 
and  winding  in  peaceful  and  silver  streams.  There 
no  harsh  and  boisterous  winds  are  permitted  to  shake 
and  disturb  the  air,  and  ravage  the  beauty  of  the 
groves ;  there  prevails  no  melancholy,  nor  darksome 
weather,  no  drowning  rain,  nor  pelting  hail ;  no 
forked  lightning,  nor  rending  and  resounding  thun- 
der ;  no  wintry  pinching  cold,  nor  withering  and 
panting  summer  heat ;  nor  anything  else  that  can 
give  pain  or  sorrow  or  annoyance,  but  all  is  bland 
and  gentle  and  serene;  a  perpetual  youth  and  joy 
reigns  throughout  all  nature,  and  nothing  decays  and 
dies. 

The  same  idea  is  given  by  St.  Ambrosius,  in  his 
book  on  Paradise,-^  an  author  likewise  consulted  and 
cited  by  Columbus.  He  wrote  in  the  fourth  century, 
and  his  touching  eloquence,  and  graceful  yet  vigor- 
ous style,  insured  great  popularity  to  his  writings. 
Many  of  these  opinions  are  cited  by  Glanville,  usual- 
ly called  Bartholomeus  Anglicus,  in  his  work  De  Pro- 
prietatibus  Kerum ;  a  work  with  which  Columbus 
was  evidently  acquainted.  It  was  a  species  of  ency- 
clopedia of  the  general  knowledge  current  at  the 
time,  and  was  likely  to  recommend  itself  to  a  curious 
I  St.  Ambros.  Opera.    Edit.  Coignard.    Parisiis  MDOXQ 


558 


APPENDIX. 


and  inquiring  voyager.  This  author  cites  an  asser- 
tion as  made  by  St.  Basilius  and  St.  Ambrosius  that 
the  water  of  tlie  fountain  which  proceeds  from  the 
garden  of  Eden  falls  into  a  great  lake  with  such  a 
tremendous  noise  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
borhood are  born  deaf ;  and  that  fi-om  this  lake  pro- 
ceed the  four  chief  rivers  mentioned  in  Genesis.^ 

This  passage,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Hexameron  of  either  Basilius  or  Ambrosius,  from 
which  it  is  quoted ;  neither  is  it  in  the  oration  on 
Paradise  by  the  former,  nor  in  the  letter  on  the  same 
subject  written  by  Ambrosius  to  Ambrosius  Sabinus. 
It  must  be  a  misquotation  by  Glanville.  Columbus, 
however,  appears  to  have  been  struck  with  it,  and 
Las  Casas  is  of  opinion  that  he  derived  thence 
his  idea  that  the  vast  body  of  fresh  water  which  filled 
the  Gulf  of  La  Ballena  or  Paria,  flowed  from  the 
fountain  of  Paradise,  though  from  a  remote  distance  ; 
and  that  in  this  gulf,  which  he  supposed  in  the  ex 
treme  part  of  Asia,  originated  the  Nile,  the  Tigris, 
the  Euphrates,  and  the  Ganges,  which  might  be  con- 
ducted under  the  land  and  sea  by  subterranean 
channels,  to  the  places  where  they  spring  forth  on 
the  earth  and  assume  their  proper  names. 

I  forbear  to  enter  into  various  other  of  the  volumi- 
nous speculations  which  have  been  formed  relative  to 

1  Paradisus  autem  in  Oriente,  in  altissimo  monte,  de  cujus 
cacuniine  cadentes  aquce,  maximum  faciunt  lacum,  qui  in  suo 
casu  tantum  faciunt  strepitum  et  fragorem,  quod  omnes  iii- 
colae,  juxta  priedictum  lacum,  nascuntur  surdi,  ex  immoderate 
Bonitu  seu  fragore  sensum  auditus  in  parvulis  corrumpente. 
Ut  dicit  Basilius  in  Hexameron^  similiter  et  Ambros.  Ex  illo 
»acu,  velut  ex  uno  fonte,  procedunt  ilia  flumina  quatuor,  Phi- 
Bon,  qui  et  Ganges,  Gyon,  qui  et  Nilus  dicitur,  et  Tigris  ac 
Euphrates.  Bart.  Angl.  de  Proprieta!  ibus  Rerum,  lib.  15,  cap. 
U2.    Francofurti,  1540. 


APPENDIX, 


bb9 


kbe  terrestrial  paradise,  and  perha^)S  It  nia}*  be 
thought  that  I  have  already  said  too  much  on  so  fan- 
ciful a  subject ;  but  to  illustrate  clearly  the  character 
of  Columbus,  it  is  necessary  to  elucidate  those  veins 
of  thought  passing  through  his  mind  while  consider- 
ing the  singular  phenomena  of  the. unknown  regions 
he  was  exploring,  and  which  are  often  but  slightly 
and  vaguely  developed  in  his  journals  and  letters 
These  speculations,  likewise,  like  those  concerning 
fancied  islands  in  the  ocean,  carry  us  back  to  the  time, 
and  make  us  feel  the  mystery  and  conjectural  charm 
which  reigned  over  the  greatest  part  of  the  world, 
and  have  since  been  completely  dispelled  by  modern 
discovery.  Enough  has  been  cited  to  show,  that,  in 
his  observations  concerning  the  terrestrial  paradise, 
Columbus  was  not  indulging  in  any  fanciful  and  pre- 
sumptuous chimeras,  the  offspring  of  a  heated  and 
disordered  brain.  However  visionary  his  conjectures 
may  seem,  they  w^ere  all  grounded  on  written  opin- 
ions held  little  less  than  oracular  in  his  day  ;  and 
they  will  be  found  on  examination  to  be  far  exceeded 
by  the  speculations  and  theories  of  sages  held  illus- 
trious for  their  wisdom  and  erudition  in  the  school 
and  cloister. 


No.  XXXVI. 

WILL  OF  COLUMBUS. 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  who  in 
Bpired  me  with  the  idea,  and  afterwards  made  it  per- 
fectly clear  to  me,  that  I  could  navigate  and  go  to 
the  Indies  from  Spain,  by  traversing  the  ocean  west- 
wardly  ;   which  I  communicated  to  the  king,  Doa 


APPENDIX. 


Ferdinand,  and  to  the  queen,  Dona  Isabella,  oui 
sovereigns  ;  and  they  were  pleased  to  furnish  me  the 
necessary  equipment  of  men  and  ships,  and  to  make 
me  their  admiral  over  the  said  ocean,  in  all  parts 
lying  to  the  west  of  an  imaginary  line,  drawn  Iroin 
pole  to  pole,  a  hundred  leagues  west  of  tlie  Cape  de 
Verd  and  Azore  islands;  also  appointing  me  their 
viceroy  and  governor  over  all  continents  and  islands 
that  I  might  discover  beyond  the  said  line  west- 
wardly  ;  with  the  right  of  being  succeeded  in  the 
paid  offices  by  my  eldest  son  and  his  heirs  forever  ; 
and  a  grant  of  the  tenth  part  of  all  things  found  in 
the  said  jurisdiction  and  of  all  rents  and  revenues 
arising  from  it ;  and  the  eighth  of  all  the  lands  and 
everything  else,  together  with  the  salary  correspond- 
ing to  my  rank  of  admiral,  viceroy,  and  governor, 
and  all  other  emoluments  accruing  thereto,  as  is 
more  fully  expressed  in  the  title  and  agreement  . sanc- 
tioned by  their  highnesses. 

And  it  pleased  the  Lord  Almighty,  that  in  the 
year  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-two,  I 
should  discover  the  continent  of  the  Indies  and 
many  islands, '  among  them  Hispaniola,  which  the 
Indians  call  Ayte,  and  the  Monicongos,  Cipango.  I 
then  returned  to  Castile  to  their  highnesses,  who  ap- 
proved  of  my  undertaking  a  second  enterprise  for 
farther  discoveries  and  settlements;  and  the  Lord 
gave  me  victory  over  the  island  of  Hispaniola, 
which  extends  six  hundred  leagues,  and  I  conquered 
it  and  made  it  tributary ;  and  I  discovered  many 
islands  inhabited  by  cannibals,  and  seven  hundred  to 
the  west  of  Hispaniola,  among  which  is  Jamaica, 
which  we  call  Santiago ;  and  three  hundred  and 
thirty-three  leagues  of  continent  from  south  to  west, 
besides  a  hundred  and  seven  to  the  north,  which  I 
discovered  in  my  first  voyage,  together  with  manj 


APPENDIX, 


561 


islands,  as  may  more  clearly  be  seen  by  my  letters, 
memorials,  and  maritime  charts.  And  as  we  hope 
in  God  that  before  long  a  good  and  great  revenue 
will  be  derived  from  the  above  islands  and  continent, 
of  which,  for  the  reasons  aforesaid  belong  to  me  the 
tenth  and  the  eigbth,  with  the  salaries  and  emolu- 
ments specified  above  ;  and  considering  that  we  are 
mortal,  and  that  it  is  proper  for  every  one  to  settle 
bis  affairs,  and  to  leave  declared  to  his  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors the  property  he  possesses  or  may  have  a  right 
to  :  Wherefore  1  have  concluded  to  create  an  en- 
tailed estate  (mayorazgo)  out  of  the  said  eighth  of 
the  lands,  places,  and  revenues,  in  the  manner  which 
I  now  proceed  to  state. 

In  the  first  place,  I  am  to  be  succeeded  by  Don 
Diego,  my  son,  who  in  case  of  death  without  chil- 
dren is  to  be  succeeded  by  my  other  son  Ferdinand  ; 
and  should  God  dispose  of  him  also  without  leaving 
children  and  without  my  having  any  other  son,  then 
my  brother  Don  Bartholomew  is  to  succeed ;  and 
after  him  his  eldest  son  ;  and  if  God  should  dispose 
of  him  without  heirs,  he  shall  be  succeeded  by  his 
sons  from  one  to  another  forever ;  or,  in  the  failure 
of  a  son,  to  be  succeeded  by  Don  Ferdinand,  after 
the  same  manner,  from  son  to  son  successively  ;  or  in 
their  place  by  my  brothers  Bartholomew  and  Diego. 
And  should  it  please  the  Lord  that  the  estate,  after 
having  continued  for  some  time  in  the  line  of  any 
of  the  above  successors,  should  stand  in  need  of  an 
immediate  and  lawful  male  heir,  the  succession  shall 
then  devolve  to  the  nearest  relation,  being  a  man  of 
legitimate  birth,  and  bearing  the  name  of  Columbus 
derived  from  his  father  and  his  ancestors.  This  en- 
tailed estate  shall  in  nowise  be  inherited  by  a 
woman,  except  in  case  that  no  male  is  to  be  found, 
either  in  this  or  any  other  quarter  of  the  world,  of 

vol.  III.  36 


562 


APPENDIX. 


my  real  lineage,  whose  name,  as  well  as  that  of  hii 
ancestors,  shall  have  always  been  Columbus.  In 
Buch  an  event,  (which  may  God  forefend,)  then  the 
female  of  legitimate  birth,  most  nearly  related  to  the 
preceding  possessor  of  the  estate,  shall  succeed  to  it; 
and  this  is  to  be  under  the  conditions  herein  stipu- 
lated at  foot,  which  must  be  understood  to  extend  as 
well  to  Don  Diego,  my  son,  as  to  the  aforesaid  and 
their  heirs,  every  one  of  them,  to  be  fulfilled  by 
them  ;  and  failing  to  do  so,  they  are  to  be  deprived 
of  the  succession,  for  not  having  complied  with 
wdiat  shall  herein  be  expressed  ;  and  the  estate  to 
pass  to  the  person  most  nearly  related  to  the  one 
who  held  the  right :  and  the  person  thus  succeeding 
shall  in  like  manner  forfeit  the  estate,  should  he  also 
fail  to  comply  with  said  conditions  ;  and  another  per- 
son, the  nearest  of  my  lineage,  shall  succeed,  pro- 
vided he  abide  by  them,  so  that  they  may  be  ob- 
served forever  in  the  form  prescribed.  This  forfeit- 
ure is  not  to  be  incurred  for  trifling  matters,  origi- 
nating in  lawsuits,  but  in  important  cases,  when 
the  glory  of  God,  or  my  own,  or  that  of  my  family, 
may  be  concerned,  which  supposes  a  perfect  fulfill- 
ment of  all  the  things  hereby  ordained ;  all  which  I 
recommend  to  the  courts  of  justice.  And  I  suppli- 
cate his  Holiness,  who  now  is,  and  those  that  may 
succeed  in  the  holy  church,  that  if  it  should  happen 
fchat  this  my  will  and  testament  has  need  of  his  holy 
order  and  command  for  its  fulfillment,  that  such 
order  be  issued  in  virtue  of  obedience,  and  under 
penalty  of  excommunication,  and  that  it  shall  not 
be  in  anywise  disfigured.  And  I  also  pray  the  king 
and  queen,  our  sovereigns,  and  their  eldest-born, 
Prince  Don  Juan,  our  lord,  and  their  successors,  for 
the  sake  of  the  services  I  have  done  them,  and  be- 
cause it  is  just,  that  it  may  please  them  not  to  permit 


APPENDIX, 


5G3 


this  my  will  and  constitution  of  my  entailed  estate 
to  be  any  way  altered,  but  to  leave  it  in  the  form 
and  manner  which  I  have  ordained,  forever,  for  the 
greater  glory  of  the  Almighty,  and  that  it  may  be 
the  root  and  basis  of  my  lineage,  and  a  memento 
of  the  services  I  have  rendered  their  highnesses; 
that,  being  born  in  Genoa,  I  came  over  to  serve  them 
in  Castile,  and  discovered  to  the  west  of  Terra 
Fitraa,  the  Indies  and  islands  before  mentioned.  1 
aceordingiy  pray  their  highnesses  to  order  that  this 
my  privilege  and  testament  be  held  valid,  and  be 
executed  summarily  and  without  any  opposition  or 
demur,  according  to  the  letter.  I  also  pray  the 
grandees  of  the  realm  and  the  lords  of  the  council, 
and  all  others  having  administration  of  justice,  to  be 
pleased  not  to  suffer  this  my  will  and  testament  to 
be  of  no  avail,  but  to  cause  it  to  be  fulfilled  as  by 
me  ordained  ;  it  being  just  that  a  noble,  who  has 
served  the  king  and  queen,  and  the  kingdom,  should 
be  respected  in  the  disposition  of  his  estate  by  will, 
testament,  institution  of  entail  or  inheritance,  and 
that  the  same  be  not  infringed  either  in  whole  or 
in  part. 

In  the  first  place,  my  son  Don  Diego,  and  all  my 
successors  and  descendants,  as  well  as  my  brothers 
Bartholomew  and  Diego,  shall  bear  my  arms,  such  as 
I  shall  leave  them  after  my  days,  without  inserting 
anything  else  in  them ;  and  they  shall  be  their  seal 
to  seal  withal.  Don  Diego  my  son,  or  any  other 
who  may  inherit  this  estate,  on  coming  into  posses- 
sion of  the  inheritance,  shall  sign  with  the  signature 
which  I  now  make  use  of,  which  is  an  X  w^ith  an  S 
over  it,  and  an  M  with  a  Roman  A  over  it,  and 
over  that  an  S,  and  then  a  Greek  Y,  with  an  S  over 
•t,  with  its  lines  and  points  as  is  my  custom,  as  may 
be  seen  by  my  signatures,  of  which  there  are  many, 
and  it  will  be  seen  by  the  present  one. 


561 


APPENDIX. 


He  oliall  only  write  the  Admiral/'  whatever 
other  titles  the  kin^  may  have  conferred  on  him* 
This  is  to  be  understood  as  respects  his  signature,  but 
not  the  enumeration  of  his  titles,  which  he  can  make 
at  full  length  if  agreeable,  only  the  signature  is  to  be 
the  Admiral." 

The  said  Don  Diego,  or  any  other  inheritor  of  this 
estate,  shall  posses  the  offices  of  admiral  of  the  ocean, 
which  is  to  the  west  of  an  imaginary  line  which  his 
highness  ordered  to  be  drawn,  running  from  pole  to 
pole  a  hundred  leagues  beyond  the  Azores,  and  as 
many  more  beyond  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  over 
all  which  I  was  made,  by  their  order,  their  admiral 
of  the  sea,  with  all  the  preeminences  held  by  Don 
Henrique  in  the  admiralty  of  Castile,  and  they  made 
me  their  governor  and  viceroy  perpetually  and  for- 
ever, over  all  the  islands  and  main-land  discovered, 
or  to  be  discovered,  for  myself  and  heirs,  as  is  more 
fully  shown  by  my  treaty  and  privilege  as  above 
mentioned. 

Item  :  The  said  Don  Diego,  or  any  other  inheritor 
of  this  estate,  shall  distribute  the  revenue  which  it 
may  please  our  Lord  to  grant  him,  in  the  following 
manner^  under  the  above  penalty. 

First  —  Of  the  whole  income  of  this  estate,  now 
and  at  all  times,  and  of  whatever  may  be  had  or 
collected  from  it,  he  shall  give  the  fourth  part  annu- 
ally to  my  brother  Don  Bartholomew  Columbus,  Ade- 
lantado  of  the  Indies  ;  and  this  is  to  continue  till 
he  shall  have  acquired  an  income  of  a  million  of 
maravadises,  for  his  support,  and  for  the  services  he 
has  rendered  and  will  continue  to  render  to  this  en 
tailed  estate ;  which  million  he  is  to  receive,  as  stated, 
every  year,  if  the  said  fourth  amount  to  so  much, 
and  that  he  have  nothing  else  ;  but  if  he  possess  a 
part  or  the  whole  of  that  amount  in  rents,  that 


APPENDIX. 


565 


fclKiiicefo'th  be  shall  not  enjoy  the  said  million,  nor 
any  part  of  it,  except  that  he  sliall  have  in  the  said 
fourth  part  unto  the  said  quantity  of  a  million,  If  it 
should  amount  to  so  much  ;  and  as  much  as  he  shall 
have  of  revenue  beside  this  fourth  part,  whatever 
Bum  of  maravadises  of  known  rent  from  property  or 
perpetual  offices,  the  said  quantity  of  rent  or  revenue 
from  property  or  offices  shall  be  discounted ;  and 
from  the  said  million  shall  be  reserved  whatever 
marriage  portion  he  may  receive  with  any  female  he 
may  espouse  ;  so  that  whatever  he  may  receive  in 
marriage  with  his  wife,  no  deduction  shall  be  made 
on  that  account  from  said  million,  but  only  for  what- 
ever he  may  acquire,  or  may  have,  over  and  above 
his  wife's  dowry ;  and  when  it  shall  please  God  that 
he  or  his  heirs  and  descendants  shall  derive  from 
their  property  and  offices  a  revenue  of  a  million 
arising  from  rents,  neither  he  nor  his  heirs  shall  en- 
joy any  longer  anything  from  the  said  fourth  part 
of  the  entailed  estate,  which  shall  remain  with  Don 
Diego,  or  whoever  may  inherit  it. 

Item :  From  the  revenues  of  the  said  estate,  or 
from  any  other  fourth  part  of  it,  (should  its  amount 
be  adequate  to  it,)  shall  be  paid  every  year  to  my 
son  Ferdinand  two  millions,  till  such  time  as  his  rev- 
enue shall  amount  to  two  millions,  in  the  same  form 
and  manner  as  in  the  case  of  Bartholomew,  who,  as 
well  as  his  heirs,  are  to  have  the  million  or  the  part 
that  may  be  wanting. 

Item  :  The  said  Don  Diego  or  Don  Bartholomew 
shall  make,  out  of  the  said  estate,  for  my  brother 
Diego,  su(3h  provision  as  may  enable  him  to  live  de- 
eently,  as  he  is  my  brother,  to  whom  I  assign  no  par- 
ticular sum  as  he  has  attached  himself  to  the  church, 
ind  that  will  be  given  him  which  is  right :  and  this 
to  be  given  him  in  a  mass,  and  before  anything  sh^ 


566 


APPENDIX, 


have  been  received  by  Ferdinand  my  son,  or  Bar« 
tholonievv  my  brother,  or  their  heirs,  and  also  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  of  the  income  of  the  estate.  And 
in  case  of  discord,  the  case  is  to  be  referred  to  two 
of  our  relations,  or  other  men  of  honor  ;  and  should 
they  disagree  among  themselves,  they  will  choose  a 
third  person  as  arbitrator,  being  virtuous  and  not  dis- 
trusted by  either  party. 

Item  :  All  this  revenue  which  I  bequeath  to  Bar- 
tholomew, to  Ferdinand,  and  to  Diego,  shall  be  de- 
livered to  and  received  by  them  as  prescribed  under 
the  obligation  of  being  faithful  and  loyal  to  Diego 
my  son,  or  his  heirs,  they  as  well  as  their  children  : 
and  should  it  appear  that  they,  or  any  of  them,  had 
proceeded  against  him  in  anything  touching  his 
honor,  or  the  prosperity  of  the  family,  or  of  the  es- 
tate, either  in  word  or  deed,  whereby  might  come  a 
scandal  and  debasement  to  my  family,  and  a  detri- 
ment to  my  estate ;  in  that  case,  nothing  farther  shall 
be  given  to  them  or  him,  from  that  time  forward,  in 
asmuch  as  they  are  always  to  be  faithful  to  Diego 
and  to  his  successors. 

Item  :  As  it  was  my  intention,  when  I  first  insti- 
tuted this  entailed  estate,  to  dispose,  or  that  my  son 
Diego  should  dispose  for  me,  of  the  tenth  part  of  the 
income  in  favor  of  necessitous  persons,  as  a  tithe,  and 
in  commemoration  of  the  Almighty  and  Eternal 
God  ;  and  persisting  still  in  this  opinion,  and  hoping 
that  His  High  Majesty  will  assist  me,  and  those  who 
may  inherit  it,  in  this  or  the  New  World,  I  have  re- 
solved that  the  said  tithe  shall  be  paid  in  the  man- 
ner following  : 

First  —  It  is  to  be  understood  that  the  fourth  part 
of  the  revenue  of  the  estate  which  I  have  ordained 
and  directed  to  be  given  to  Don  Bartholomew,  till 
he  have  an  income  of  one  million,  includes  the  tenth 


APPENDIX. 


567 


of  the  wliole  revenue  of  the  estate  ;  and  that  as  in 
proportion  as  the  income  of  my  brother  Don  Bar- 
tholomew shall  increase,  as  it  has  to  be  dlscountevl 
from  the  revenue  of  the  fourth  part  of  the  entailed 
estate,  that  the  said  revenue  shall  be  calculated,  to 
know  how  much  the  tenth  part  amounts  to  ;  and  the 
part  which  exceeds  what  is  necessary  to  make  up  the 
million  for  Don  Bartholomew  shall  be  received  by 
Buch  of  my  family  as  may  most  stand  in  need  of  it, 
discounting  it  from  said  tenth,  if  their  income  do 
not  amount  to  fifty  thousand  maravadises;  and 
should  any  of  these  come  to  have  an  income  to  this 
amount,  such  a  part  shall  be  awarded  them  as  two 
persons,  chosen  for  the  purpose,  may  determine  along 
with  Don  Diego,  or  his  heirs.  Thus,  it  is  to  be  un- 
derstood that  the  million  which  I  leave  to  Don  Bar- 
tholomew comprehends  the  tenth  of  the  whole  rev- 
enue of  the  estate  ;  which  revenue  is  to  be  distrib- 
uted among  my  nearest  and 'most  needy  relations  in 
the  manner  I  have  directed;  and  when  Don  Bar- 
tholomew have  an  income  of  one  million,  and  that 
nothing  more  shall  be  due  to  him  on  account  of  said 
fourth  part,  then,  Don  Diego  my  son,  or  the  person 
who  may  be  in  possession  of  the  estate,  along  with 
the  two  other  persons  which  I  shall  herein  point  out, 
shall  inspect  the  accounts,  and  so  direct,  that  the 
tenth  of  the  revenue  shall  still  continue  to  be  paid 
to  the  most  necessitous  members  of  my  family  that 
may  be  found  in  this  or  any  other  quarter  of  the 
^rorld,  who  shall  be  diligently  sought  out ;  and  they 
are  to  be  paid  out  of  the  fourth  part  from  which 
Don  Bartholomew  is  to  derive  his  million  ;  which 
Bums  are  to  be  taken  into  account,  and  deducted 
from  the  said  tenth,  which,  should  it  amount  to  more, 
the  overplus,  as  it  arises  from  the  fourth  part,  shall  be 
given  to  the  most  necessitous  persons  as  aforesaid 


568 


APPENDIX, 


and  should  it  not  be  sufficient,  that  Don  B..rtholo 
mew  shall  have  it  until  his  own  estate  goes  on  in- 
creasing, leaving  the  said  million  in  part  or  in  the 
whole. 

Item  :  The  said  Don  Diego  my  son,  or  whoev  er 
may  be  the  inheritor,  shall  appoint  two  persons  of 
conscience  and  authority,  and  most  nearly  related  to 
the  family,  who  are  to  examine  the  revenue  and  its 
amount  carefully,  and  to  cause  the  said  tenth  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  fourth  from  which  Don  Bartholomew 
is  to  receive  his  million,  to  the  most  necessitated 
members  of  my  family  that  m.ay  be  found  here  or 
elsewhere,  whom  they  shall  look  for  diligently  upon 
their  consciences  ;  and  as  it  might  happen  that  said 
Don  Diego,  or  others  after  him,  for  reasons  which 
may  concern  their  own  welfare,  or  the  credit  and 
support  of  the  estate,  may  be  unwilling  to  make 
known  the  full  amount  of  the  income  ;  nevertheless 
I  charge  him,  on  his  conscience,  to  pay  the  sum  afore- 
said ;  and  I  charge  them,  on  their  souls  and  con- 
sciences, not  to  denounce  or  make  it  known,  except 
with  the  consent  of  Don  Diego,  or  the  person  that 
may  succeed  him  ;  but  let  the  above  tithe  be  paid  in 
the  manner  I  have  directed. 

Item :  In  order  to  avoid  all  disputes  in  the  choice 
of  the  two  nearest  relations  who  are  to  act  with  Don 
Diego  or  his  heirs,  I  hereby  elect  Don  Bartholomew 
my  brother  for  one,  and  Don  Fernando  my  son  for  the 
Gther ;  and  when  these  two  shall  enter  upon  the  busi- 
ness, they  shall  choose  two  other  persons  among  the 
most  trusty,  and  most  nearly  related,  and  these  again 
shall  elect  two  others  when  it  shall  be  question  of 
commencing  the  examination ;  and  thus  it  shall  be 
managed  with  diligence  from  one  to  the  other,  as  wel] 
in  this  as  in  the  other  of  government,  for  the  service 
and  glory  of  God,  and  the  benefit  of  the  said  entailed 
estate. 


APPENDIX. 


539 


Item  :  I  also  ciijohi  Diego,  or  any  one  that  may 
inherit  the  estate,  to  have  and  maintain  in  the  city 
of  Genoa,  one  person  of  our  lineage  to  reside  there 
with  his  wife,  and  appoint  him  a  sufficient  revenue  to 
enable  him  to  live  decently,  as  a  person  closely  con- 
nected with  the  family,  of  which  he  is  to  be  the  root 
and  basis  in  that  city  ;  from  which  great  good  may 
accrue  to  him,  inasmuch  as  I  was  born  there,  and 
came  from  thence. 

Item  :  The  said  Don  Diego,  or  whoever  shall  in 
herit  the  estate,  must  remit  in  bills,  or  in  any  other 
way,  all  such  sums  as  he  may  be  able  to  save  out  of 
the  revenue  of  the  estate,  and  direct  purchases  to  be 
made  in  his  name,  or  that  of  his  heirs,  in  a  stock  in 
the  Bank  of  St.  George,  which  gives  an  interest  of 
six  per  cent,  and  in  secure  money  ;  and  this  shall  be 
devoted  to  the  purpose  I  am  about  to  explain. 

Item  :  As  it  becomes  every  man  of  property  to 
serve  God,  either  personally  or  by  means  of  his  wealth, 
and  as  all  moneys  deposited  with  St.  George  are 
quite  safe,  and  Genoa  is  a  noble  city,  and  powerful 
by  sea,  and  as  at  the  time  that  I  undertook  to  set 
out  upon  the  discovery  of  the  Indies,  it  was  with  the 
intention  of  supplicating  the  king  and  queen,  our 
lords,  that  whatever  moneys  should  be  derived  from 
the  said  Indies,  should  be  invested  in  the  conquest  of 
Jerusalem ;  and  as  I  did  so  supplicate  them  ;  if  they 
do  this,  it  will  be  w^ell ;  if  not,  at  all  events,  the  said 
Diego,  or  such  person  as  may  succeed  him  in  this 
trust,  to  collect  together  all  the  money  he  can,  and 
accompany  the  king  our  lord,  should  he  go  to  the 
conquest  of  Jerusalem,  or  else  go  there  himself  with 
Jill  the  force  he  can  command  ;  and  in  pursuing  this 
intention,  it  will  please  the  Lord  to  assist  towards  the 
ciccomplishment  of  the  plan  ;  and  shouhl  ho  not  be 
able  to  effect  the  conquest  of  the  whole,  no  doubt  he 


570 


APPENDIX, 


will  achieve  it  in  part.  Let  him  therefore  collect  and 
maki  a  fund  of  all  his  wealth  in  St.  George  of  Genoa, 
and  let  it  multiply  there  till  such  time  as  it  may  ap- 
pear to  him  that  something  of  consequence  may  be 
effected  as  respects  the  project  on  Jerusalem  ;  for  I 
believe  that  when  their  highnesses  shall  see  that  this 
is  contemplated,  they  will  wish  to  realize  it  them- 
selves, or  will  aiFord  him,  as  their  servant  and  vassal, 
the  means  of  doing  it  for  them. 

Item  :  I  charge  my  son  Diego  and  my  descendants, 
especially  whoever  may  inherit  this  estate,  which  con- 
sists, as  aforesaid,  of  the  tenth  of  whatsoever  may  be 
had  or  found  in  the  Indies,  and  the  eighth  part  of  the 
lands  and  rents,  all  which,  together  with  my  rights 
and  emoluments  as  admiral,  viceroy,  and  governor, 
amount  to  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent. ;  I  say, 
that  I  require  of  him  to  employ  all  this  revenue,  as 
well  as  his  person  and  all  the  means  in  his  power,  in 
well  and  faithfully  serving  and  supporting  their  high- 
nesses, or  their  successors,  even  to  the  loss  of  life  and 
property  ;  since  it  was  their  highnesses,  next  to  God, 
who  first  gave  me  the  means  of  getting  and  achieving 
this  property,  although  it  is  true,  I  came  over  to  these 
realms  to  invite  them  to  the  enterprise,  and  that  a 
long  time  elapsed  before  any  provision  was  made  for 
carrying  it  into  execution  ;  which,  however,  is  not 
surprising,  as  this  was  an  undertaking  of  which  all 
the  world  was  ignorant,  and  no  one  had  any  faith  in 
it ;  wherefore  I  am  by  so  much  the  more  indebted  to 
them,  as  well  as  because  they  have  since  also  much 
favored  and  promoted  me. 

Item  :  I  also  require  of  Diego,  or  whomsoever  may 
be  in  possession  of  the  estate,  that  in  the  case  of  any 
gchism  taking  place  in  the  church  of  God,  or  that 
any  person  of  whatever  class  or  condition  should  at- 
tempt to  despoil  i*:  of  its  property  and  honors,  thej 


APPENDIX. 


571 


hasten  to  ofTer  at  the  feet  of  his  holiness,  that  is,  if 
the}'  are  not  heretics  (which  God  forbid  ! )  their  per- 
sons, power,  and  wealth,  for  the  purpose  of  suppress- 
ing such  schism,  and  preventing  any  spoliation  of  the 
honor  and  property  of  the  church. 

Item :  I  command  the  said  Diego,  or  whoever  may 
possess  the  said  estate,  to  labor  and  strive  for  the 
honor,  welfare,  and  aggrandizement  of  the  city  of 
Genoa,  and  to  make  use  of  all  his  power  and  means 
in  defending  and  enhancing  the  good  and  credit  of 
that  republic,  in  all  things  not  contrary  to  the  service 
of  the  church  of  God,  or  the  high  dignity  of  our  king 
and  queen,  our  lords,  and  their  successors. 

Item  :  The  said  Diego,  or  whoever  may  possess  or 
succeed  to  the  estate,  out  of  the  fourth  part  of  the 
whole  revenue,  from  which,  as  aforesaid,  is  to  be 
taken  the  tenth,  when  Don  Bartholomew  or  his  heirs 
shall  have  saved  the  two  millions,  or  part  of  them, 
and  when  the  time  shall  come  of  making  a  distribu- 
tion among  our  relations,  shall  apply  and  invest  the 
said  tenth  in  providing  marriages  for  such  daughters 
of  our  lineage  as  may  require  it,  and  in  doing  all  the 
good  in  their  power. 

Item :  When  a  suitable  time  shall  arrive,  he  shall 
order  a  church  to  be  built  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola, 
and  in  the  most  convenient  spot,  to  be  called  Santa 
Maria  de  la  Concepcion ;  to  which  is  to  be  annexed 
an  hospital,  upon  the  best  possible  plan,  like  those  of 
Italy  and  Castile,  and  a  chapel  erected  to  say  mass  in 
for  the  good  of  my  soul,  and  those  of  my  ancestors 
and  successors  with  great  devotion,  since  no  doubt  it 
will  please  the  Lord  to  give  us  a  sufficient  revenue 
6)r  this  and  the  aforementioned  purposes. 

Item  :  I  also  order  Diego  my  son,  or  whomsoever 
may  inherit  after  him,  to  spare  no  pains  in  having 
and  maintaining  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  four 


572 


iPPENDlX 


good  professors  of  theology,  to  the  end  and  aim  of 
their  studying  and  laboring  to  convert  to  our  holv 
faith  the  inhabitants  of  the  Indies  ;  and  in  proportion 
as,  by  God's  will,  the  revenue  of  the  estate  shall  in- 
crease, in  the  same  degree  shall  the  number  of 
teachers  and  devout  increase,  who  are  to  strive  to 
make  Christians  of  the  natives  ;  in  attaining  which 
no  expense  should  be  thought  too  great.  And  in 
commemoration  of  all  that  I  hereby  ordain,  and  of 
the  foregoing,  a  monument  of  marble  shall  be  erected 
in  the  said  church  of  la  Concepcion,  in  the  most  con- 
spicuous place,  to  serve  as  a  record  of  what  I  here 
enjoin  on  the  said  Diego,  as  well  as  to  other  persona 
who  may  look  upon  it ;  which  marble  shall  contain 
an  inscription  to  the  same  effect. 

Item  :  I  also  require  of  Diego  my  son,  and  whom- 
soever may  succeed  him  in  the  estate,  that  every 
time,  and  as  often  as  he  confesses,  he  first  show  this 
obligation,  or  a  copy  of  it,  to  the  confessor,  praying 
him  to  read  it  through,  that  he  may  be  enabled  to 
inquire  respecting  its  fulfillment ;  from  which  will  re- 
dound great  good  and  happiness  to  his  soul. 

S. 

S.  A.  S. 
X.  M.  Y. 

EL  ALMIRANTK 


No.  xxxvn. 

SIGNATURE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


As  everything  respecting  Columbus  is  full  of  in* 
te'^st,  his  signature  has  been  a  matter  of  some  dis- 


APPENDIX. 


ciisslon.  It  partook  of  the  pedantic  and  bigoted 
character  of  the  age,  and  perhaps  of  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  man,  who,  considering  himself  mys- 
teriously elected  and  set  apart  from  among  men  for 
certain  great  purposes,  adopted  a  correspondent  for- 
mality and  solemnity  in  all  his  concerns.  His  signa 
ture  was  as  follows  : 

S. 

S.  A.  S. 

X.  M.  y. 

XPO  FERENS. 

The  first  half  of  the  signature,  XPO,  (for  CHRIS- 
TO,)  is  in  Greek  letters  ;  the  second,  FERENS,  is 
in  Latin.  Such  was  the  usage  of  those  days  ;  and 
even  at  present  both  Greek  and  Roman  letters  are 
used  in  signatures  and  inscriptions  in  Spain. 

The  ciphers  or  initials  above  the  signature  are 
supposed  to  represent  a  pious  ejaculation.  To  read 
.hem  one  must  begin  with  the  lower  letters,  and 
connect  them  with  those  above.  Signor  Gio.  Batista 
Spotorno  conjectures  them  to  mean  either  Xristus 
(Christus),  Sancta  Maria,  Yosephus,  or,  Salve  me, 
Xristus,  Maria,  Yosephus.  The  North  American 
Review,  for  April,  1827,  suggests  the  substitution  of 
Jesus  for  Josephus,  but  the  suggestion  of  Spotorno  is 
most  probably  correct,  as  a  common  Spanish  ejacu- 
lation is    Jesus,  Maria,  y  Jose.'* 

It  was  an  ancient  usage  in  Spain,  and  it  has  not 
entirely  gone  by,  to  accompany  the  signature  with 
some  words  of  religious  purport.  One  object  of  this 
practice  was  to  show  the  writer  to  be  a  Christian. 
This  was  of  some  importance  in  a  country  in  which 
Jews  and  Mahonretans  were  proscribed  and  perse- 
^iuted 


APPENDIX. 


Don  Fernando,  son  of  Columbus,  says  that  'Ai% 
father,  when  he  took  his  pen  in  hand,  usually  com- 
menced by  writing  "  Jesus  cum  Maria  sit  nobis  in 
via  ; "  and  the  book  which  the  admiral  prepared  and 
nent  to  the  sovereigns,  containing  the  prophecies 
which  he  considered  as  referring  to  his  discoveries, 
and  to  the  rescue  of  the  holy  sepulchre,  begins  with 
the  same  words.  This  practice  is  akin  to  that  of 
placing  the  initials  of  pious  words  above  his  signa- 
ture, and  gives  great  probability  to  the  mode  in 
which  they  have  been  deciphered. 


No.  xxxvm. 

A  VISIT  TO  PALOS. 

[The  following  narrative  was  actually  commenced,  by  the 
author  of  this  work,  as  a  letter  to  a  friend,  but  unexpectedly 
swelled  to  its  present  size.  He  has  been  induced  to  insert  it 
here  from  the  idea,  that  many  will  feel  the  same  curiosity  to 
know  something  of  the  present  state  of  Palos  and  its  inhabi- 
tants that  led  him  to  make  the  journey.] 

Seville,  1828. 
Since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  I  have  made  what  I 
may  term  an  American  pilgrimage,  to  visit  the  little 
port  of  Palos,  in  Andalusia,  where  Columbus  fitted 
out  his  ships,  and  whence  he  sailed  for  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World.  Need  I  tell  you  how  deeply 
interesting  and  gratifying  it  has  been  to  me  ?  I  had 
long  meditated  this  excursion,  as  a  kind  of  pious, 
and,  if  1  may  so  say,  filial  duty  of  an  American, 
and  my  intention  was  quickened  when  I  learnt  that 
many  of  the  edifices,  mentioned  in  the  History  of 


APPENDIX. 


575 


Columbus,  still  remained  in  nearly  the  same  state  in 
which  they  existed  at  the  time  of  his  sojourn  at 
Palos,  and  that  the  descendants  of  the  intrepid  Pin- 
zons,  who  aided  him  with  ships  and  money,  and 
sailed  with  him  in  the  great  voyage  of  discovery, 
still  flourished  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  very  evening  before  my  departure  from  Se- 
ville on  the  excursion,  I  heard  that  there  was  a 
young  gentleman  of  the  Pinzon  family  studying  law 
in  the  city.  I  got  introduced  to  him,  and  found 
him  of  most  prepossessing  appearance  and  manners. 
He  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  his  father, 
Don  Juan  Fernandez  Pinzon,  resident  of  Moguer, 
and  the  present  head  of  the  family. 

As  it  was  in  the  middle  of  August,  and  the 
weather  intensely  hot,  I  hired  a  calesa  for  the  jour- 
ney. This  is  a  two-wheeled  carriage,  resembling  a 
cabriolet,  but  of  the  most  primitive  and  rude  con- 
struction ;  the  harness  is  profusely  ornamented  with 
brass,  and  the  horse's  head  decorated  with  tufts  and 
tassels  and  dangling  bobs  of  scarlet  and  yellow 
worsted.  I  had  for  calasero,  a  tall,  long-legged 
Andalusian,  in  short  jacket,  little  round-crowned 
hat,  breeches  decorated  with  buttons  from  the  hip  to 
the  knees,  and  a  pair  of  russet  leather  bottinas  or 
spatterdashes.  He  was  an  active  fellow,  though 
uncommonly  taciturn  for  an  Andalusian,  and  strode 
along  beside  his  horse,  rousing  him  occasionally  to 
greater  speed  by  a  loud  malediction  or  a  hearty 
thwack  of  his  cudgel. 

In  this  style,  I  set  off  late  in  the  day  to  avoid 
the  noontide  heat,  and,  after  ascending  the  lofty 
range  of  hills  which  borders  the  great  valley  of  the 
Guadalquiver,  and  having  a  rough  ride  among  their 
heights,  I  descended  about  twilight  into  one  of  those 
vast,  silent,  melancholy  plains,  frequent  in  Spaiiij 


57G 


APPENDlA. 


where  1  beheld  no  other  signs  of  life  than  a  roam* 
ing  ilook  of  bustards,  and  a  distant  herd  of  cattle, 
guarded  by  a  solitary  herdsman,  who,  with  a  long 
pike  planted  in  the  earth,  stood  motionh.,  ^s  in  the 
midst  of  the  dreary  landscape,  resembling  an  Arab 
of  the  desert.  The  night  had  somewhat  advanced 
when  we  stopped  to  repose  for  a  few  hours  at  a  soli- 
tary venta  or  inn,  if  it  might  so  be  called,  being 
nothing  more  than  a  vast  low-roofed  stable,  divided 
into  several  compartments  for  the  reception  of  the 
troops  of  mules  and  arrieros  (or  carriers)  who  carry 
on  the  internal  trade  of  Spain.  Accommodalion 
for  the  traveller  there  was  none  —  not  even  for 
a  traveller  so  easily  accommodated  as  myself.  The 
landlord  had  no  food  to  give  me,  and  as  to  a 
bed,  he  had  none  but  a  horse-cloth,  on  which  his 
only  child,  a  boy  of  eight  years  old,  lay  naked  on 
the  earthen  floor.  Indeed  the  heat  of  the  weather 
and  the  fumes  from  the  stables  made  the  interior  of 
the  hovel  insupportable  ;  so  I  was  fain  to  bivouac, 
on  my  cloak,  on  the  pavement,  at  the  door  of  the 
venta,  where,  on  waking,  after  two  or  three  hours 
of  sound  sleep,  I  found  a  contrabandista  (or  smug- 
gler) snoring  beside  me,  with  his  blunderbuss  on  his 
arm. 

I  resumed  my  journey  before  break  of  day,  and 
had  made  several  leagues  by  ten  o'clock,  when  we 
Btopped  to  breakfast,  and  to  pass  the  sultry  hours  of 
mid-day  in  a  large  village;  whence  we  departed 
about  four  o'clock,  and  after  passing  through  the 
game  kind  of  solitary  country,  arrived  just  after 
sunset  at  Moguer.  This  little  city  (for  at  present 
it  is  a  city)  is  situated  about  .a  league  from  Palos,  of 
which  place  it  has  gradually  absorbed  all  the  respect- 
able inhabitants,  and,  among  the  number,  the  whole 
familv  of  the  Pinzons. 


APPENDIX, 


80  remote  is  this  little  place  from  the  stir  and 
bustle  of  travel,  and  so  destitute  of  the  show  and 
vainglory  of  Ihis  world,  that  m}^  calesa,  as  it  rattle^ 
and  jingled  along  the  narrow  and  ill-paved  streets 
caused  a  great  sensation  ;  the  children  shouted  anc 
scampered  along  by  its  side,  admiring  its  spkndid 
trappings  of  brass  and  woi-sted,  and  gazing  with 
reverence  at  the  important  stranger  who  came  in  so 
gorgeous  an  equipage. 

I  drove  up  to  the  principal  posada,  the  landlord 
of  which  was  at  the  door.  He  was  one  of  the  very 
civilest  men  in  the  world,  and  disposed  to  do  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  make  me  comfortable  ;  there 
was  only  one  difficulty,  he  had  neither  bed  nor  bed- 
room in  his  house.  In  fact  it  was  a  mere  venta  for 
muleteers,  who  are  accustomed  to  sleep  on  the 
ground,  with  their  mule-cloths  for  beds  and  pack- 
saddles  for  pillows.  It  was  a  hard  case,  but  there 
was  no  better  posada  in  the  place.  Few  people 
travel  for  pleasure  or  curiosity  in  these  out-of-the- 
way  parts  of  Spain,  and  those  of  any  note  are  gen- 
erally received  into  private  houses.  I  had  travelled 
sufficiently  in  Spain  to  find  out  that  a  bed,  after  all, 
is  not  an  article  of  indispensable  necessity,  and  was 
about  to  bespeak  some  quiet  corner  where  I  might 
spread  my  cloak,  when  fortunately  the  landlord's 
wife  came  forth.  She  could  not  have  a  more  ol  lig- 
ing  disposition  than  her  husband,  but  then  —  God 
bless  the  women  !  —  they  always  know  how  to  carry 
their  good  wishes  into  effect.  In  a  little  whde  a 
small  room,  about  ten  feet  square,  which  had  formed 
a  thoroughfare  between  the  stables  and  a  kind  of 
shop  or  bar-room,  was  cleared  of  a  variety  of  lum- 
ber, and  I  ^vas  assured  that  a  bed  should  be  put  up 
there  for  me.  From  the  consultations  I  saw  my 
host€;ss  holding  with  some  of  her  neighbor  gossips 

VOL.  HI.  3r 


578 


APPENDhK. 


I  fancied  the  bed  was  to  be  a  kind  Df  pieceuieal 
30iitribnti3n  among  tliem  for  the  credit  of  the  house. 

As  soon  as  I  could  change  my  dress,  I  commenced 
the  historical  researches  which  were  the  object  of  my 
journey,  and  inquired  for  the  abode  of  Don  Juan 
Fernandez  Pinzon.  My  obliging  landlord  himself 
volunteered  to  conduct  me  thither,  and  I  set  off  full 
of  animation  at  the  thoughts  of  meeting  with  the 
lineal  representative  of  one  of  the  coadjutors  of  Co- 
lumbus. 

A  short  walk  brought  us  to  the  house,  which  was 
most  respectable  in  its  appearance,  indicating  easy, 
if  not  affluent,  circumstances.  The  door,  as  is  cus- 
tomary in  Spanish  villages,  during  summer,  stood 
wide  open.  We  entered  with  the  usual  salutation 
or  rather  summons,  "  Ave  Maria  !  "  A  trim  An- 
dalusian  handmaid  answered  to  the  call,  and,  on  our 
inquiring  for  the  master  of  the  house,  led  the  way 
across  a  little  patio  or  court,  in  the  centre  of  the 
edifice,  cooled  by  a  fountain  surrounded  by  shrubs 
and  flowers,  to  a  back  court  or  terrace,  likewise  set 
out  with  flowers,  where  Don  Juan  Fernandez  was 
seated  with  his  family,  enjoying  the  serene  evening 
in  the  open  air. 

I  was  much  pleased  with  his  appearance.  He 
was  a  venerable  old  gentleman,  tall,  and  somewhat 
thin,  with  fair  complexion  and  gray  hair.  He  re- 
ceived me  with  great  urbanity,  and  on  reading  the 
letter  from  his  son,  appeared  struck  with  surprise  to 
find  I  had  come  quite  to  Moguer  merely  to  visit 
the  scene  of  the  embarkation  of  Columbus  ,  and  still 
more  so  on  my  telling  him  that  one  of  my  leading 
objects  of  curiosity  was  his  own  family  connection 
for  it  would  seem  that  the  worthy  cavalier  had 
troubled  his  head  but  Uttle  about  the  enterprises  of 
his  ancestors. 


APPENDIX. 


573 


I  now  took  my  seat  in  the  domestic  circle,  and 
foon  felt  myself  quite  at  home,  for  there  generally 
a  frankness  in  the  hospitality  of  Spaniards,  tliat  soon 
puts  a  stranger  at  liis  ease  beneath  their  roof  Th^ 
wife  of  Don  Juan  Fernandez  was  extremely  amiable 
and  affable,  possessing  much  of  that  natural  aptness 
for  which  the  Spanish  women  are  remarkable.  In 
the  course  of  conversation  with  them  I  learnt  that 
Don  Juan  Fernandez,  who  is  seventy-two  years  of 
age,  is  the  eldest  of  five  brothers,  all  of  whom  are 
married,  have  numerous  offspring,  and  live  in  Mo- 
guer  and  its  vicinity,  in  nearly  the  same  condition 
and  rank  of  life  as  at  the  time  of  the  discovery. 
This  agreed  with  what  I  had  previously  heard  re- 
specting the  families  of  the  discoverers.  Of  Colum- 
bus no  lineal  and  direct  descendant  exists ;  his  was 
an  exotic  stock  which  never  took  deep  and  lasting 
root  in  the  country ;  but  the  race  of  the  Pinzons 
continues  to  thrive  and  multiply  in  its  native  soil. 

While  I  was  yet  conversing,  a  gentleman  entered, 
who  was  introduced  to  me  as  Don  Luis  Fernandez 
Pinzon,  the  youngest  of  the  brothers.  He  appeared 
between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age,  somewhat  ro- 
bust, with  fair  complexion,  gray  hair,  and  a  frank  and 
manly  deportment.  He  is  the  only  one  of  the  pres- 
ent generation  that  has  followed  the  ancient  profes- 
Bion  of  the  family ;  having  served  with  great  ap- 
plause as  an  officer  of  the  royal  navy,  from  which  he 
retired,  on  his  marriage,  about  twenty-two  years 
fince.  He  is  the  one,  also,,  who  takes  the  greatest 
interest  and  pride  in  the  historical  honors  of  his 
house,  carefully  preserving  all  the  legends  and  doc- 
uments of  the  achievements  and  distinctions  of  his 
family,  a  manuscript  volume  of  which  he  lent  to  me 
S)r  my  inspection. 

Don  Juan  now  expressed  a  wish  that,  during  my 


580 


APPENDIX. 


residence  in  Moguer,  I  would  make  his  house  my 
home.  I  endeavored  to  excuse  myself,  alleging,  that 
the  good  people  at  the  posada  had  been  at  such 
extraordinary  trouble  in  preparing  quarters  for  me, 
that  I  did  not  like  to  disappoint  them.  The  worthy 
old  gentleman  undertook  to  arrange  all  this,  and, 
while  supper  was  preparing,  we  walked  together  to 
the  posada.  I  found  that  my  obliging  host  and  host- 
ess had  indeed  exerted  themselves  to  an  uncommon 
degree.  An  old  rickety  table  had  been  spread  out 
in  a  corner  of  the  little  room  as  a  bedstead,  on  top 
of  which  was  propped  up  a  grand  cama  de  luxo,  or 
state  bed,  which  appeared  to  be  the  admiration  of 
the  house.  I  could  not,  for  the  soul  of  me,  appear 
to  undervalue  what  the  poor  people  had  prepared 
with  such  hearty  good-will,  and  considered  such  a 
triumph  of  art  and  luxury ;  so  I  again  entreated 
Don  Juan  to  dispense  with  my  sleeping  at  his  house, 
promising  most  faithfully  to  take  my  meals  there 
whilst  I  should  stay  at  Moguer,  and  as  the  old  gen- 
tleman understood  my  motives  for  declining  his  in- 
vitation, and  felt  a  good-humored  sympathy  in  them, 
we  readily  arranged  the  matter.  I  returned  there 
fore  with  Don  Juan  to  his  house  and  supped  with  bis 
family.  During  the  repast  a  plan  was  agreed  upon 
for  my  visit  to  Palos,  and  to  the  convent  La  Rabida, 
in  which  Don  Juan  volunteered  to  accompany  me 
and  be  my  guide,  and  the  following  day  was  allotted 
to  the  expedition.  We  were  to  breakfast  at  a  haci- 
enda, or  country-seat,  which  he  possessed  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Palos,  in  the  midst  of  his  vineyards,  and 
were  to  dine  there  on  our  return  from  the  convent. 
These  arrangements  being  made,  we  parted  for  the 
night ;  I  returned  to  the  posada  highly  gratified  with 
my  visit,  and  slept  soundly  in  the  extraordinary  bed 
which,  I  may  almost  say,  had  been  invented  for  my 
accommodation. 


APPENDIX. 


581 


On  the  folio v/ing  morning,  bright  and  early,  Don 
Juan  Fernandez  and  myself  set  off  in  the  calesa  for 
Pal  OS.  I  felt  a[)prehensive  at  first,  that  the  kind- 
hearted  old  gentleman,  in  his  anxiety  to  oblige,  had 
left  his  bed  at  too  early  an  hour,  and  was  exposing 
himself  to  fatigues  unsuited  to  his  age.  He  laughed 
at  the  idea,  and  assured  me  that  he  was  an  early 
riser,  and  accustomed  to  all  kinds  of  exercise  on 
horse  and  foot,  being  a  keen  sportsman,  and  fre- 
quently passing  days  together  among  the  mountains 
on  shooting  expeditions,  taking  with  him  servants, 
horses,  and  provisions,  and  living  in  a  tent.  He  ap- 
peared, in  fact,  to  be  of  an  active  habit,  and  to  pos- 
sess a  youthful  vivacity  of  spirit.  His  cheerful  dis- 
position  rendered  our  morning  drive  extremely 
agreeable  ;  his  urbanity  was  shown  to  every  one  whom 
we  met  on  the  road  ;  even  the  common  peasant 
was  saluted  by  him  with  the  appellation  of  caballero^ 
a  mark  of  respect  ever  gratifying  to  the  poor  but 
proud  Spaniard,  when  yielded  by  a  superior. 

As  the  tide  was  out  we  drove  along  the  flat 
grounds  bordering  the  Tinto.  The  river  was  on 
our  right,  while  on  our  left  was  a  range  of  hills,  jut- 
ting out  into  promontories,  one  beyond  the  other,  and 
covered  with  vineyards  and  fig-trees.  The  weather 
was  serene,  the  air  soft  and  balmy,  and  the  land- 
scape of  that  gentle  kind  calculated  to  put  one  in  a 
quiet  and  happy  humor.  We  passed  close  by  the 
skirts  of  Palos,  and  drove  to  the  hacienda,  which  ia 
situated  at  some  little  distance  from  the  village  be- 
tween it  and  the  river.  The  house  is  a  low  stone 
building,  well  whitewashed,  and  of  great  length ; 
one  end  being  fitted  up  as  a  summer  residence,  with 
saloons,  bed-rooms,  and  a  domestic  chapel ;  and  the 
other  as  a  bodega  or  magazine  for  the  reception  of 
•^be  wine  produced  on  the  estate. 


582 


APPENDIX. 


The  bouse  stands  on  a  hill,  amidst  vineyards, 
wbich  are  supposed  to  cover  a  part  of  the  site  of  the 
ancient  town  of  Palos,  now  shrunk  to  a  miserable 
village-.  Beyond  these  vineyards,  on  the  crest  of  a 
distant  hill,  are  seen  the  white  walls  of  the  convent 
^f  La  Rabida  rising  above  a  dark  wood  of  pine- 
trees. 

Below  the  hacienda  flows  the  river  Tinto,  on 
which  Columbus  embarked.  It  is  divided  by  a  low 
tongue  of  land,  or  rather  the  sand-bar  of  Saltes,  from 
the  river  Odiel,  with  which  it  soon  mingles  its  waters, 
and  flows  on  to  the  ocean.  Beside  this  sand-bar, 
where  the  channel  of  the  river  runs  deep,  the 
squadron  of  Columbus  was  anchored,  and  thence  he 
made  sail  on  the  morning  of  his  departure. 

The  soft  breeze  that  was  blowing  scarcely  ruffled 
the  surface  of  this  beautiful  river ;  two  or  three  pic- 
turesque barks,  called  mystics,  with  long  latine  sails, 
were  gliding  down  it.  A  little  aid  of  the  imagina- 
tion might  suffice  to  picture  them  as  the  light  cara- 
vels of  Columbus,  sallying  forth  on  their  eventful 
expedition,  while  the  distant  bells  of  the  town  of 
Huelva,  which  were  ringing  melodiously,  might  be 
supposed  as  cheering  the  voyagers  with  a  farewell 
peal. 

I  cannot  express  to  you  what  were  my  feelings  on 
treading  the  shore  which  had  once  been  animated 
with  the  bustle  of  departure,  and  whose  sands  had 
been  printed  by  the  last  footstep  of  Columbus.  The 
solemn  and  sublime  nature  of  the  event  that  had  fol- 
lowed, together  with  the  fate  and  fortunes  of  those 
concerned  in  it,  filled  the  mind  with  vague  yet  mel- 
ancholy ideas.  It  was  like  viewing  the  silent  and 
empty  stage  of  some  great  drama  when  all  the  actors 
had  departed.  The  very  aspect  of  the  landscape, 
BO  tranquilly  beautiful,  had  an  effect  upon  me ;  and 


APPENDIX, 


583 


AS  I  paced  the  deserted  shores  by  the  side  of  a  de- 
ecendant  of  one  of  the  discoverers,  I  felt  my  hear* 
swelling  with  emotions  and  my  eyes  filling  with 
tears. 

What  surprised  me  was,  to  find  no  semblance  of  a 
Bea-port ;  there  was  neither  wharf  nor  landing-place 
—  nothing  but  a  naked  river  bank,  with  the  hulk  of 
a  ferry-boat,  which  I  was  told  carried  passengers  to 
Huelva,  lying  high  and  dry  on  the  sands,  deserted  by 
the  tide.  Palos,  though  it  has  doubtless  dwindled 
away  from  its  former  size,  can  never  have  been  im- 
portant as  to  extent  and  population.  If  it  possessed 
warehouses  on  the  beach,  they  have  disappeared.  It 
is  at  present  a  "mere  village  of  the  poorest  kind,  and 
lies  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  river,  in 
a  hollow  among  hills.  It  contains  a  few  hundred  in- 
habitants, who  subsist  principally  by  laboring  in  the 
fields  and  vineyards.  Its  race  of  merchants  and 
mariners  is  extinct.  There  are  no  vessels  belonging 
to  the  place,  nor  any  show  of  traffic,  excepting  at 
the  season  of  fruit  and  wine,  when  a  few  mystics  and 
other  light  barks  anchor  in  the  river  to  collect  the 
produce  of  the  neighborhood.  The  people  are  to- 
tally ignorant,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  greater 
part  of  them  scarce  know  even  the  name  of  America. 
Such  is  the  place  whence  sallied  forth  the  enterprise 
for  the  discovery  of  the  western  world ! 

We  were  now  summoned  to  breakfast  in  a  little 
saloon  of  the  hacienda.  The  table  was  covered  with 
natural  luxuries  produced  upon  the  spot  —  fine  pur- 
ple and  muscatel  grapes  from  the  adjacent  vineyard, 
delicious  melons  from  the  garden,  and  generous 
wines  made  on  the  estate.  The  repast  was  height- 
ened by  the  genial  manners  of  my  hospitable  host, 
who  appeared  to  possess  the  most  enviable  cheerful- 
aess  of  spirit  and  simplicity  of  heart. 


584 


APPENDIX. 


After  breakfast  we  set  off  in  the  calesa  to  visit  the 
convent  of  La  Rabida,  about  half  a  league  distant. 
The  road,  for  a  part  of  the  way,  lay  through  the 
vineyards,  and  was  deep  and  sandy.  The  calasero 
had  been  at  his  wit's  end  to  conceive  what  motive  a 
stranger  like  myself,  apparently  travelling  for  mere 
amusement,  could  have  in  coming  so  far  to  see  .?o 
miserable  a  place  as  Palos,  which  he  set  down  as  one 
of  the  very  poorest  places  in  the  whole  world  ;  but 
this  additional  toil  and  struggle  through  deep  sand 
to  visit  the  old  convent  of  La  Rabida  completed  his 
confas'on  —  "  Hombre  !  "  exclaimed  he,  "  es  una  ru- 
ina  !  no  hay  mas  que  dos  frailes  ! "  —  "  Zounds  !  why 
it 's  a  ruin  !  there  are  only  two  friars-  there  !  "  Don 
Juan  laughed,  and  told  him  that  I  had  come  all  the 
way  from  Seville  precisely  to  see  that  old  ruin  and 
those  two  friars.  The  calasero  made  the  Spaniard's 
last  reply  when  he  is  perplexed  —  he  shrugged  his 
shoulders  and  crossed  himself.  After  ascending  a 
hill  and  passing  through  the  skirts  of  a  straggling 
pine  wood,  we  arrived  in  front  of  the  convent.  It 
stands  in  a  bleak  and  solitary  situation,  on  the  brow 
of  a  rocky  height  or  promontory,  overlooking  to  the 
west  a  wide  range  of  sea  and  land,  bounded  by  the 
frontier  mountains  of  Portugal,  about  eight  leagues 
distant.  The  convent  is  shut  out  from  a  view  of  the 
vineyard  of  Palos  by  the  gloomy  forest  of  pines  al- 
ready mentioned,  which  cover  the  promontory  to  the 
east,  and  darken  the  whole  landscape  in  that  direc- 
tion. 

There  Is  nothing  remarkable  in  the  architecture  of 
the  convent;  part  of  it  is  Gothic,  but  the  edifice, 
having  been  frequently  repaired,  and  being  white- 
washed, according  to  a  universal  custom  in  Andalu- 
sia inherited  from  the  Moors,  has  not  that  venerable 
aspect  which  might  be  expected  from  its  antiquity. 


APPENDIX. 


58^ 


W*5  nligbted  at  the  gate  where  Columbus,  wher  a 
poor  pedestrian,  a  stranger  in  the  land,  asked  bread 
and  water  for  his  child  !  As  long  as  the  convent 
Btands,  this  must  be  a  spot  calculated  to  awaken  the 
most  thrilling  interest.  The  gate  remains  apparently 
in  nearly  the  same  state  as  at  the  time  of  his  visits 
but  there  is  no  longer  a  porter  at  hand  to  administer 
to  the  wants  of  the  wayfarer.  The  door  stood  wide 
open,  and  admitted  us  into  a  small  court-yard. 
Thence  we  passed  through  a  Gothic  portal  into  the 
chapel,  without  seeing  a  human  being.  We  then 
traversed  two  interior  cloisters,  equally  vacant  and 
silent,  and  bearing  a  look  of  neglect  and  dilapida- 
tion. From  an -open  window  we  had  a  peep  at  what 
had  once  been  a  garden,  but  that  had  also  gone  to 
ruin  ;  the  walls  were  broken  and  thrown  down  ;  a 
few  shrubs,  and  a  scattered  fig-tree  or  two,  were  ail 
the  traces  of  cultivation  that  remained.  We  passed 
through  the  long  dormitories,  but  the  cells  were  shut 
up  and  abandoned  ;  we  saw  no  living  thing  except  a 
solitary  cat  stealing  across  a  distant  corridor,  which 
fled  in  a  panic  at  the  unusual  sight  of  strangers.  At 
length,  after  patrolling  nearly  the  whole  of  the  empty 
building  to  the  echo  of  our  own  footsteps,  we  came  to 
where  the  door  of  a  cell,  being  partly  open,  gave  us 
the  sight  of  a  monk  within,  seated  at  a  table  writing. 
He  rose,  and  received  us  with  much  civility,  and  con- 
ducted us  to  the  superior,  who  was  reading  in  an  ad- 
jacent cell.  They  were  both  rather  young  men,  and, 
together  with  a  novitiate  and  a  lay-brother,  who  ofB 
dated  as  cook,  formed  the  whole  community  of  the 
convent. 

Don  Juan  Fernandez  communicated  to  them  the 
object  of  my  visit,  and  my  desire  also  to  inspect  the 
archives  of  the  convent,  to  find  if  there  was  any 
record  of  the  sojourn  of  Columbus.    The/  nfcrmed 


586 


APPENDIX. 


us  that  the  archives  had  been  entirely  destroyed  by 
the  French.  The  younger  monk,  however,  who  had 
perused  them,  had  a  vague  recollection  of  various 
particulars  concerning  the  transactions  of  Columbug 
at  Palos,  his  visit  to  the  convent,  and  the  sailing  of 
his  expedition.  From  all  that  he  cited,  however,  it 
appeared  to  me  that  all  the  information  on  "^lie  sub- 
ject contained  in  the  archives  had  been  extracted 
from  Herrera  and  other  well  known  authors.  The 
monk  was  talkative  and  eloquent,  and  soon  diverged 
from  the  subject  of  Columbus,  to  one  v^^hich  he  con- 
sidered of  infinitely  greater  importance  —  the  mi- 
raculous image  of  the  Virgin  possessed  by  their 
convent,  and  known  by  the  name  of  "  Our  Lady  of 
La  Rabida."  He  gave  us  a  history  of  the  wonderful 
way  in  which  the  image  had  been  found  buried  in 
the  earth,  where  it  had  lain  hidden  for  ages,  since  the 
time  of  the  conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Moors  ;  the 
disputes  between  the  convent  and  different  places  in 
the  neighborhood  for  the  possession  of  it ;  the  mar- 
velous protection  it  extended  to  the  adjacent  country, 
especially  in  preventing  all  madness,  either  in  man 
or  dog,  for  this  malady  was  anciently  so  prevalent  in 
this  place  as  to  gain  it  the  appellation  of  La  Rabia,  by 
which  it  w^as  originally  called ;  a  name  which,  thanks 
to  the  beneficent  influence  of  the  Virgin,  it  no  longer 
•jierited  nor  retained.  Such  are  the  legends  and 
lelics  with  which  every  convent  in  Spain  is  enriched, 
which  are  zealously  cried  up  by  the  monks,  and  de- 
voutly credited  by  the  populace. 

Twice  a  year  on  the  festival  of  our  Lady  of  La 
Kabida,  and  on  that  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  order, 
the  solitude  and  silence  of  the  convent  are  inter- 
rupted by  the  intrusion  of  a  swarming  multitude, 
composed  of  the  inhabitants  of  Moguer,  of  Huelva, 
and  the  neighboring  plains   and  mountains.  The 


APPENDIX, 


587 


open  esplanade  in  front  of  the  edifice  resembles  a 
fair,  the  adjacent  forest  teems  with  the  motley 
throng,  and  the  image  of  our  Lady  of  La  Rabida  is 
borne  forth  in  triumphant  procession. 

While  the  friar  was  thus  dilating  upon  the  merits 
and  renown  of  the  image,  I  amused  myself  with  those 
day  dreams,  or  conjurings  of  the  imagination,  to 
which  I  am  a  little  given.  As  the  internal  arrange- 
ments of  convents  are  apt  to  be  the  same  from  age 
to  age,  I  pictured  to  myself  this  chamber  as  the  same 
inhabited  by  the  guardian,  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena, 
at  the  time  of  the  visit  of  Columbus.  Why  might 
not  the  old  and  ponderous  table  before  me  be  the 
very  one  on  which  he  displayed  his  conjectural  maps, 
and  expounded  his  theory  of  a  western  route  to  In- 
dia ?  It  required  but  another  stretch  of  the  imagi- 
nation to  assemble  the  little  conclave  around  the 
table ;  Juan  Perez  the  friar,  Garci  Fernandez  the 
physician,  and  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  the  bold  navi- 
gator, all  listening  with  rapt  attention  to  Columbus, 
or  to  the  tale  of  some  old  seaman  of  Palos,  about 
islands  seen  in  the  western  parts  of  the  ocean. 

The  friars,  as  far  as  their  poor  means  and  scanty 
knowledge  extended,  were  disposed  to  do  everything 
to  promote  the  object  of  my  visit.  They  showed  us 
all  parts  of  the  convent,  which  however,  has  little  to 
boast  of,  excepting  the  historical  associations  con- 
nected with  it.  The  library  was  reduced  to  a  few 
volumes,  chiefly  on  ecclesiastical  subjects,  piled  pro- 
miscuously in  the  corner  of  a  vaulted  chamber,  and 
covered  with  dust.  The  chamber  itself  was  curious,  • 
being  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  edifice,  and  sup- 
posed to  have  formed  part  of  a  temple  in  the  time 
of  the  Romans. 

We  ascended  to  the  roof  of  the  convent  to  en- 
joy the  extensive  prospect  it  commands.  Immedi* 


588 


APPENDIX, 


ately  below  the  promontory  on  which  it  is  s'tuaiad 
runs  a  narrow  but  tolerably  deep  river,  called  the 
Domingo  Rublo,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Tinto. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  Don  Luis  Fernandez  Pinzon, 
that  the  ships  of  Cokunbus  were  careened  and  fitted 
out  in  this  river,  as  it  affords  better  shelter  than  the 
Tinto,  and  its  shores  are  not  so  shallow.  A  lonely 
bark  of  a  fisherman  was  lying  in  this  stream,  and 
not  far  off,  on  a  sandy  point,  were  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  watch-tower.  From  the  roof  of  the  convent, 
all  the  windings  of  the  Odlel  and  the  Tinto  were  to 
be  seen,  and  their  junction  into  the  main  stream,  by 
which  Columbus  sallied  forth  to  sea.  In  fact  the 
convent  serves  as  a  landmark,  being,  from  its  lofty 
and  solitary  situation,  visible  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance to  vessels  coming  on  the  coast.  On  the  oppo- 
site side  I  looked  down  upon  the  lonely  road,  through 
the  wood  of  pine-trees,  by  which  the  zealous  guar- 
dian of  the  convent,  Fray  Juan  Perez,  departed  at 
midnight  on  his  mule,  when  he  sought  the  camp  ot 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  the  Vega  of  Granada,  to 
plead  the  project  of  Columbus  before  the  queen. 

Having  finished  our  inspection  of  the  convent,  we 
prepared  to  depart,  and  were  accompanied  to  the 
outward  portal  by  the  two  friars.  Our  calasero 
brought  his  rattling  and  rickety  vehicle  for  us  to 
mount ;  at  sight  of  which  one  of  the  monks  ex- 
claimed, with  a  smile,  "  Santa  Maria !  only  to  think  1 
A  calesa  before  the  gate  of  the  convent  of  La  Ra- 
bida  ! "  And,  indeed,  so  solitary  and  remote  is  this 
•  ancient  edifice,  and  so  simple  is  the  mode  of  living 
of  the  people  in  this  by-corner  of  Spain,  that  the  ap- 
pearance of  even  a  sorry  calesa  might  well  cause 
Hstonishment.  It  is  only  singular  that  in  such  a  by- 
corner  the  scheme  of  Columbus  should  have  found 
intelligent  listeners  and  coadjutors,  after  it  had  bepn 


APPENDIX, 


589 


discarded,  almost  witli  scoffing  and  contempt,  from 
learned  universities  and  splendid  courts. 

Ou  our  way  back  to  tlie  hacienda,  we  met  Don 
Rafael,  a  younger  son  of  Don  Juan  Fernandez,  g 
fuie  young  man,  about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and 
who,  his  father  informed  me,  was  at  present  study- 
ing French  and  mathematics.  He  was  well  mounted 
on  a  spirited  gray  horse,  and  dressed  in  the  Anda- 
lusian  style,  with  the  little  round  hat  and  jacket. 
He  sat  his  horse  gracefully,  and  managed  him  well. 
I  was  pleased  with  the  frank  and  easy  terms  on 
which  Don  Juan  appeared  to  live  with  his  children. 
This  I  was  inclined  to  think  his  favorite  son,  as  I 
understood  he  was  the  only  one  that  partook  of  the 
old  gentleman's  fondness  for  the  chase,  and  that  ac- 
companied him  in  his  hunting  excursions. 

A  dinner  had  been  prepared  for  us  at  the  hacienda, 
by  the  wife  of  the  capitaz,  or  overseer,  who,  with 
her  husband,  seemed  to  be  well  pleased  with  this  visit 
from  Don  Juan,  and  to  be  confident  of  receiving  a 
pleasant  answer  from  the  good-humored  old  gentle- 
man whenever  they  addressed  him.  The  dinner  was 
served  up  about  two  o'clock,  and  was  a  most  agree- 
able meal.  The  fruits  and  wines  were  from  the 
estate,  and  were  excellent ;  the  rest  of  the  provisions 
were  from  Moguer,  for  the  adjacent  village  of  Palos 
is  too  poor  to  furnish  anything.  A  gentle  breeze 
from  the  sea  played  through  the  hall,  and  tempered 
the  summer  heat.  Indeed  I  do  not  know  when  I 
have  seen  a  more  enviable  spot  than  this  country 
retreat  of  the  Pinzons.  Its  situation  on  a  breezy 
hill,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  sea,  and  in  a 
southern  climate,  produces  a  happy  temperature, 
neither  hot  in  summer  nor  cold  in  winter.  It  com- 
mands a  beautiful  prospect,  and  is  surrounded  by 
natural  luxuries.    The  country  abounds  with  game, 


690 


APPENDIX. 


tlie  adjacent  river  affords  abundant  sport  in  fishing, 
both  by  day  and  night,  and  delightful  excursions 
tor  those  fond  of  sailing.  During  the  busy  seasons 
of  rural  life,  and  especially  at  the  joyous  period  of 
vintage,  the  family  pass  some  tiuie  here,  accompanied 
by  numerous  guests,  at  which  times,  Don  Juan  as- 
sured me,  there  was  no  lack  of  amusements,  both  by 
land  and  water. 

When  we  had  dined,  and  taken  the  siesta,  or  after- 
noon nap,  according  to  the  Spanish  custom  in  sum- 
mer time,  we  set  out  on  our  return  to  Moguer,  vis- 
iting the  village  of  Palos  in  the  way.  Don  Gabriel 
had  been  sent  in  advance  to  procure  the  keys  of  the 
village  church,  and  to  apprise  the  curate  of  our  wish 
to  inspect  the  archives.  The  village  consists  prin- 
cipally of  two  streets  of  low  whitewashed  houses. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  have  very  dark  complexions, 
betraying  a  mixture  of  African  blood. 

On  entering  the  village,  we  repaired  to  the  lowly 
mansion  of  the  curate.  I  had  hoped  to  find  him 
some  such  personage  as  the  curate  in  Don  Quixote, 
possessed  of  shrewdness  and  information  in  his  lim- 
ited sphere,  and  that  I  might  gain  some  anecdotes 
from  him  concerning  his  parish,  its  worthies,  its 
antiquities^  and  its  historical  events.  Perhaps  I 
might  have  done  so  at  any  other  time,  but,  unfor 
fcunately,  the  curate  was  something  of  a  sportsman, 
and  had  heard  of  some  game  among  the  neighboring 
hills.  We  met  him  just  sallying  forth  from  his 
house,  and,  I  must  confess,  his  appearance  was  pic- 
turesque. He  was  a  short,  broad,  sturdy  little  man, 
and  kad  doffed  his  cassock  and  broad  clerical  beaver, 
for  a  short  jacket  and  a  little  round  Andalusian  hat 
he  had  his  gun  in  hand,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
mounting  a  donkey  which  had  been  led  forth  by  an 
ancient  withered  handmaid.    Fearful  of  being  de 


APPP.ND/X. 


591 


tamed  from  Iiis  foray,  lie  accosted  my  companion  tlie 
moment  he  came  in  sight.  "  God  preserve  you, 
Senor  Don  Juan  !  I  have  received  your  message, 
and  have  but  one  answer  to  make.  The  archives 
have  all  been  destroyed.  We  have  no  trace  of  any- 
thing you  seek  for  —  nothing  —  nothing.  Don  lia- 
fael  has  the  keys  of  the  church.  You  can  examine 
it  at  your  leisure  —  Adios,  caballero  !  "  With  these 
words  the  galliard  little  curate  mounted  his  donkey, 
thumped  his  ribs  with  the  butt  end  of  his  gun,  and 
trotted  off  to  the  hills. 

In  our  way  to  the  church  we  passed  by  the  ruins 
of  what  had  once  been  a  fair  and  spacious  dwelling, 
greatly  superior  to  the  other  houses  of  the  village. 
This,  Don  Juan  informed  me,  was  an  old  family  pos- 
session, but  since  they  had  removed  from  Palos  it  had 
fallen  to  decay  for  want  of  a  tenant.  It  was  prob- 
ably the  family  residence  of  Martin  Alonzo  or  Vicente 
Yanez  Pinzon,  in  the  time  of  Columbus. 

We  now  arrived  at  the  Church  of  St.  George,  in 
the  porch  of  which  Columbus  first  proclaimed  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Palos  the  order  of  the  sovereigns,  that 
they  should  furnish  him  with  ships  for  his  great  voy- 
age of  discovery.  This  edifice  has  lately  been  thor- 
oughly repaired,  and,  being  of  solid  mason-work, 
promises  to  stand  for  ages,  a  monument  of  the  dis- 
coverers. It  stands  outside  of  the  village,  on  the 
brow  of  a  hill,  looking  along  a  little  valley  toward 
the  river.  The  remains  of  a  Moorish  arch  prove  it 
to  have  been  a  mosque  in  former  times ;  just  above  it, 
on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  is  the  ruin  of  a  Moorish 
castle. 

I  paused  in  the  porch,  and  endeavored  to  recall  the 
interesting  scene  that  had  taken  place  there,  when 
Columbus,  accompanied  by  the  zealous  friar  Juan 
Terez,  caused  the  public  notary  to  read  the  royal  or- 


APPENDIX, 


der  in  presence  of  the  astonished  alcaldes,  regidors 
and  algiiazlls  ;  tut  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  con- 
Eternation  that  must  have  been  struck  into  so  remote 
a  little  community,  by  this  sudden  apparition  of  an 
entire  stranger  among  them,  bearing  a  command  that 
they  should  put  their  persons  and  ships  at  his  disposal, 
and  sail  with  him  away  into  the  unknown  wilderness 
of  the  ocean. 

The  interior  of  the  church  has  nothing  remarkable, 
excepting  a  wooden  image  of  St.  George  vanquish- 
ing the  Dragon,  which  is  erected  over  the  high  altar, 
and  is  the  admiration  of  the  good  people  of  Palos, 
who  bear  it  about  the  streets  in  grand  procession  on 
the  anniversary  of  the  saint.  This  group  existed  in 
the  time  of  Columbus,  and  now  flourishes  in  reno- 
vated youth  and  splendor,  having  been  newly  painted 
and  gihled,  and  the  countenance  of  the  saint  rendered 
peculiarly  blooming  and  lustrous. 

Having  finished  the  examination  of  the  church,  we 
resumed  our  sccits  in  the  calesa  and  returned  to  Mo- 
guer.  One  thing  only  remained  to  fulfill  the  object  of 
my  pilgrimage.  This  was  to  visit  the  chapel  of  the 
Convent  of  Sant.w  Clara.  When  Columbus  was  in  dan- 
ger of  being  losl  in  a  tempest  on  his  way  home  from 
liis  great  voyage  of  discovery,  he  made  a  vow,  that, 
should  he  be  spared,  he  would  watch  and  pray  one 
whole  night  in  this  chapel ;  a  vow  which  he  doubtless 
fulfilled  inmiediately  after  his  arrival. 

My  kind  and  attentive  friend,  Don  Juan,  conducted 
me  to  the  convent.  It  is  the  wealthiest  in  Moguer, 
and  belongs  to  a  sisterhood  of  Franciscan  nuns.  The 
chapel  is  large,  and  ornamented  with  some  degree  of 
richness,  particularl}'  the  part  about  the  high  altar, 
which  is  embellished  by  magnificent  monuments  of 
the  brave  family  of  the  Puerto  Carreros,  the  ancient 
lords  of  Moguer,  auf^  renowned  in  Moorish  warfare. 


APPENDIX. 


593 


The  alabaster  effigies  of  distinguished  warriors  of  that 
house,  and  of  their  wives  and  sisters,  lie  side  by  side, 
with  folded  hands,  on  tombs  immediately  before  the 
altar,  while  others  recline  in  deep  niches  on  either 
side.  The  night  had  closed  in  by  the  time  I  entered 
the  church,  which  made  the  scene  more  impressive. 
A  few  votive  lamps  shed  a  dim  light  about  the  in- 
terior ;  their  beams  were  feebly  reflected  by  the 
gilded  work  of  the  high  altar,  and  the  frames  of  the 
surrounding  paintings,  and  rested  upon  the  marble 
figures  of  the  warriors  and  dames  lying  in  the  monu- 
mental repose  of  ages.  The  solemn  pile  must  have 
presented  much  the  same  appearance  when  the  pious 
discoverer  performed  his  vigil,  kneeling  before  this 
very  altar,  and  praying  and  watching  throughout  the 
night,  and  pouring  forth  heartfelt  praises  for  having 
been  spared  to  accomplish  his  sublime  discovery. 

1  had  now  completed  the  main  purpose  of  my 
journey,  having  visited  the  various  places  connected 
with  the  story  of  Columbus.  It  was  highly  gratify- 
ing to  find  some  of  them  so  little  changed  though  so 
great  a  space  of  time  had  intervened ;  but  in  this 
quiet  nook  of  Spain,  so  far  removed  from  the  main 
thoroughfares,  the  lapse  of  time  produces  but  few  vio- 
lent revolutions.  Nothing,  however,  had  surprised  and 
gratified  me  more  than  the  continued  stability  of  the 
Pinzon  family.  On  the  morning  after  my  excursion 
to  Palos,  chance  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
something  of  the  interior  of  most  of  their  households. 
Having  a  curiosity  to  visit  the  remains  of  a  Moorish 
castle,  once  the  citadel  of  Moguer,  Don  Fernandez  un- 
dertook to  show  me  a  tower  which  served  as  a  mag- 
azine of  wine  to  one  of  the  Pinzon  family.  In 
seeking  for  the  key  we  were  sent  from  house  to  house 
of  nearly  the  whole  connection.  All  appeared  to  be 
living  in  that  golden  mean  equally  removed  from  the 

VOL.  III.  38 


594 


APPENDIX. 


wants  and  superfluities  of  life,  and  all  to  be  happily 
interwoven  by  kind  and  cordial  habits  of  intimacy. 
AVe  found  the  females  of  the  family  generally  seated 
in  the  patios,  or  central  courts  of  their  dwellings, 
beneath  the  shade  of  awnings  and  among  shrubs  and 
flowers.  Here  the  Andalusian  ladies  are  accustomed 
to  pa?-!;  their  mornings  at  work,  surrounded  by  their 
handmaids,  in  the  primitive,  or  rather,  Oriental  style. 
]n  the  porches  of  some  of  the  houses  I  observed  the 
coat  of  arms  granted  to  the  family  by  Charles  V., 
hung  up  like  a  picture  in  a  frame.  Over  the  door 
of  Don  Luis,  the  naval  officer,  it  was  carved  on  an 
escutcheon  of  stone,  and  colored.  I  had  gathered 
many  particulars  of  the  family  also  from  conversa- 
tion with  Don  Juan,  and  from  the  family  legend  lent 
me  by  Don  Luis.  From  all  that  I  could  learn,  it 
would  appear  that  the  lapse  of  nearly  three  cen- 
turies and  a  half  has  made  but  little  change  in  the 
condition  of  the  Pinzons.  From  generation  to  gen- 
eration they  have  retained  the  same  fair  standing  and 
reputable  name  throughout  the  neighborhood,  filling 
offices  of  public  trust  and  dignity,  and  possessing  great 
influence  over  their  fellow-citizens  by  their  good 
sense  and  good  conduct.  How  rare  is  it  to  see  such 
an  instance  of  stability  of  fortune  in  this  fluctuating 
world,  and  how  truly  honorable  is  this  hereditary 
respectability,  which  has  been  secured  by  no  title? 
nor  entails,  but  perpetuated  merely  by  the  innate 
worth  of  the  race  !  I  declare  to  you  that  the  most 
illustrious  descents  of  mere  titled  rank  could  never 
command  the  sincere  respect  and  cordial  regard  with 
which  I  contemplated  this  stanch  and  enduring  family 
which  for  three  centuries  and  a  half  has  stood  merely 
upon  its  virtues. 

As  I  was  to  set  off  on  my  return  to  Seville  before 
two  o'clock,  I  partook  of  a  farewell  repast  at  the 


APPENDIX, 


595 


house  of  Don  Jlhii,  between  twelve  and  one,  and 
then  took  leave  of  his  household  with  sincere  regret. 
The  good  old  gentleman,  with  the  courtesy,  or  rather 
the  cordiality  of  a  true  Spaniard,  accompanied  mo 
to  the  posada,  to  sjc  me  off.  I  had'  dispensed  but 
little  money  in  the  posada  —  thanks  to  the  hospitality 
of  the  Pinzons  —  yet  the  Spanish  pride  of  my  host 
and  hostess  seemed  pleased  that  I  had  preferred  their 
humble  chamber,  and  the  scanty  bed  they  had  pro- 
vided me,  to  the  spacious  mansion  of  Don  Juan  ;  and 
when  I  expressed  my  thanks  for  their  kindness  and 
attention,  and  regaled  mine  host  with  a  few  choice 
segars,  the  heart  of  the  poor  man  was  overcome.  He 
seized  me  by  both  hands  and  gave  me  a  parting  ben- 
ediction, and  then  ran  after  the  calasero,  to  enjoin 
him  to  take  particular  care  of  me  during  my  journey. 

Taking  a  hearty  leave  of  my  excellent  friend  Don 
Juan,  who  had  been  unremitting  in  his  attentions  to 
me  to  the  last  moment,  I  now  set  off  on  my  way- 
faring, gratified  to  the  utmost  with  my  visit,  and 
full  of  kind  and  grateful  feelings  towards  Moguer 
and  its  hospitable  inhabitants. 


No.  XXXIX. 

MANIFESTO  OF  ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. 

The  following  curious  formula,  composed  by  learned 
divines  in  Spain,  was  first  read  aloud  by  the  friars 
in  the  train  of  Alonzo  de  Ojedo,  as  a  prelude  to  his 
attack  on  the  savages  of  Carthagena,  and  was  sub- 
sequently adopted  by  tlie  Spanish  discoverers  in  gen- 
eral, in  their  invasions  of  Indian  countries. 


APPENDIX, 


I,  Aloiizo  cle  Ojeda,  servant  of  the  high  aii<l 
mighty  kings  of  Castile  and  Leon,  civih'zers  of  bar- 
barous nations,  their  messenger  and  captain,  notify 
and  make  known  to  you,  in  the  best  way  I  can,  that 
God  our  Lord,  one  and  eternal,  created  the  heavens 
and  earth,  and  one  man  and  one  woman,  from  whom 
you,  and  we,  and  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  were 
and  are  descendants,  procreated,  and  all  those  who 
shall  come  after  us ;  but  the  vast  number  of  genera- 
tions which  have  proceeded  from  them  in  the  course 
of  more  than  five  thousand  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  the  creation  of  the  world,  made  it  necessary  that 
some  of  the  human  race  should  disperse  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  some  in  another,  and  that  they  should 
divide  themselves  into  many  kingdoms  and  provinces, 
as  they  could  not  sustain  and  preserve  themselves  in 
one  alone.  All  these  people  were  given  in  charge, 
by  God  our  Lord,  to  one  person,  named  Saint  Peter, 
who  was  thus  made  lord  and  superior  of  all  the  peo- 
ple of  the  earth,  and  head  of  the  whole  human  line- 
age ;  whom  all  should  obey,  wherever  they  might 
live,  and  whatever  might  be  their  law,  sect,  or  belief* 
he  gave  him  also  the  whole  world  for  his  service  and 
jurisdiction  ;  and  though  he  desired  that  he  should 
establish  his  chair  in  Rome,  as  a  place  most  con- 
venient for  governing  the  world,  yet  he  permitted 
that  he  might  establish  his  chair  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world,  and  judge  and  govern  all  the  natioiiS, 
Christians,  Moors,  Jews,  Gentiles,  and  whatever  other 
sect  or  belief  might  be.  This  person  was  denomi- 
nated Pope,  that  is  to  say,  Admirable,  Supreme,  Fa- 
ther and  Guardian,  because  he  is  father  and  governor 
of  all  mankind.  This  holy  father  was  obeyed  and 
honored  as  lord,  king,  and  superior  of  the  universe 
by  those  who  lived  in  his  time,  and,  in  like  manner, 
have  been  obeyed  and  honored  all  those  who  have 


APPENDIX, 


597 


been  elected  to  the  pontificate  ;  and  thus  it  \i\6  eon 
tinued  unto  the  present  day,  and  will  continue  until 
the  end  of*  the  world. 

"  One  of  these  pontiffs,  of  whom  I  have  spoken, 
as  lord  of  the  world,  made  a  donation  of  these 
islands  and  continents  of  the  ocean  sea,  and  all 
that  they  contain,  to  the  Catholic  kings  of  Castile, 
who,  at  that  time,  were  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
of  glorious  memory,  and  to  their  successors,  our 
sovereigns,  according  to  the  tenor  of  certain  papers, 
drawn  up  for  the  purpose  (which  you  may  see,  if 
you  desire).  Thus  his  majesty  is  king  and  sovereign 
of  these  islands  and  continents  by  virtue  of  the  said 
donation,  and,  as  king  and  sovereign,  certain  islands, 
and  almost  all,  to  whom  this  has  been  notified,  have 
received  his  majesty,  and  have  obeyed  and  served, 
and  do  actually  serve  him.  And,  moreover,  like 
good  subjects,  and  with  good  will,  and  without  any 
resistance  or  flelay,  the  moment  they  were  informed 
of  the  foregoing,  they  obeyed  all  the  religious  men 
sent  among  them  to  preach  and  teach  our  holy  faith  ; 
and  these  of  tlieir  free  and  cheerful  will,  without  any 
condition  or  reward,  became  Christians,  and  continue 
so  to  be.  And  his  majesty  received  them  kindly 
and  benignantly,  and  ordered  that  they  should  be 
treated  like  his  other  subjects  and  vassals.  You  also 
are  required  and  obliged  to  do  the  same.  Therefore, 
in  the  best  manner  I  can,  I  pray  and  entreat  you, 
that  you  consider  well  what  I  have  said,  and  that 
you  take  whatever  time  is  reasonable  to  understand 
and  deliberate  upon  it,  and  that  you  recognize  the 
church  for  sovereign  and  superior  of  the  universal 
world,  and  the  supreme  pontiff,  called  pope,  in  her 
oame,  and  his  majesty,  in  his  place,  as  superior  and 
sovereign  king  of  the  islands  and  terra  firma  by  virtue 
of  said  donation ;  and  that  you  consent  that  these 


598 


APPENDIX, 


religious  fathers  declare  and  preach  to  you  the  fore* 
going :  and  if  you  shall  so  do,  you  will  do  well,  and 
will  do  that  to  which  you  are  bounden  and  obliged  ; 
and  his  majesty,  and  I,  in  his  name,  will  receive  you 
with  all  due  love  and  charity,  and  will  leave  you 
your  wives  and  children  free  from  servitude,  that  you 
may  freely  do  with  them  and  with  yourselves  what- 
ever you  please  and  think  proper,  as  have  done  the 
inhabitants  of  the  other  islands.  Ajid,  beside  this, 
his  majesty  will  give  you  many  privileges  and  ex- 
emptions, and  grant  you  many  favors.  If  you  dc 
not  do  this,  or  wickedly  and  intentionally  delay 
to  do  so,  I  certify  to  you  that,  by  the  aid  of  God,  I 
will  forcibly  invade  and  make  war  upon  you  in  all 
parts  and  modes  that  I  can,  and  will  subdue  you  to 
the  yoke  and  obedience  of  the  chuich  and  of  his 
majesty  ;  and  I  will  take  your  wives  and  children, 
and  make  slaves  of  them,  and  sell  them  as  such,  and 
dispose  of  them  as  his  majesty  may  command  :  and 
I  will  take  your  effects,  and  will  do  you  all  the  harm 
and  injury  in  my  power,  as  vassals  who  will  not  obey 
or  receive  their  sovereign,  and  who  resist  and  oppose 
him.  And  I  protest  that  the  deaths  and  disasters, 
which  may  in  this  manner  be  occasioned,  will  be  the 
fault  of  yourselves,  and  not  of  his  majesty,  nor  of 
me,  nor  of  these  cavaliers  who  accompany  me.  And 
of  what  I  here  tell  you,  and  require  of  you,  I  call 
upon  the  notary  here  present  to  give  me  his  signed 
testimonial." 


tNDEX. 


A. 

Abibeyba,  Cacique,  territories  of, 
iii.  176. 

Ada,  town  of,  founded  at  Careta, 
iii.  266. 

Acuna,  Don  Alonzo  de,  summons 
Columbus  to  give  an  account  of 
himself,  on  his  return  from  the 
New  World,  i.  2«2. 

Address  of  an  Indian  of  Cuba  to 
Columbus,  i.  483. 

Adelantado,  title  of,  given  to 
Bartholomew  Columbus,  con- 
firmed by  the  king,  ii.  103. 

Adrian  de  Moxica,  ii.  220 

Admiral,  the,  a  title  granted  to 
Columbus  and  his  descendants, 

ii.  100. 

Africa,  essay  on  the  navigation  of, 
by  the  ancients,  iii.  440. 

Aguado,  Juan,  recommended  to 
the  Spanish  Government  by  Co- 
lumbus, i.  392  ;  appointed  com- 
missioner to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  of  Columbus,  ii.  61 ; 
arrives  at  Isabella,  ii.  65 ;  his 
insolent  behavior,  ii.  66  ;  his 
interview  with  Columbus,  ii.  68  ; 
the  Caciques  having  preferred 
complaints  against  Columbus, 
he  determines  on  returning  to 
Spain,  ii.  70. 

Agueybana,  Cacique  of  Porto 
Rico,  prime  mover  in  a  conspir- 
acy against  the  Spaniards,  iii. 
314  ;  attacks  the  Spaniards,  kills 
Sotomayor,  and  fires  the  village, 

iii.  317 ;  attacked  by  Juan 
Ponce,  iii.  321 ;  i?  killed,  iii. 
322. 


Aguilar,  conduct  of  at  Yucatan, 
iii.  290  ;  singular  temptation  of 
while  in  captivity,  ih. :  receives 
a  letter  from  some  of  his  coun- 
trymen, iii.  295  ;  acts  as  media- 
tor for  the  Cacique  Taxmar,  iii. 
297  ;  meets  with  Cortez,  and  is 
released,  iii.  299  ;  incident  con- 
cerning his  mother,  iii.  300  ;  his 
story,  lb. ;  appointed  Regidor  of 
the  city  of  Mexico,  iii.  301. 

Albitez,  biego  de,  iii.  151. 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  character  of, 
i.  312  ;  famous  bulls  of,  relative 
to  the  New  World,  i.  314  ;  letter 
of  Columbus  to,  ii.  343. 

Aliaco,  Pedro,  work  of,  referred 
to,  ii.  3. 

Alligators,  found  in  great  numbera 
at  Puerto  Bello,  ii.  384. 

All  Saints,  discovery  of  the  Bay 
of,  iii.  402. 

Alonzo,  Don ,  heir  apparent  of  Por- 
tugal, his  marriage  with  the 
princess  Isabella,  i.  100. 

Alpha  and  Omega,  the  extreme 
point  of  Cuba,  i.  212,  448. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  Don  Diego  Colum- 
bus married  his  daughter,  iii. 
347  ;  he  assists  in  obtaining  jus- 
tice for  his  son-in-law,  ib. 

Alvaro,  Don,  de  Portugal,  ittack 
upon,  in  the  royal  tent,  i,  96. 

Amazons,  an  island  of  supposed, 
i.  260 ;  warlike  women  of  the 
Caribbee  islands,  i.  353. 

Amazons,  river  of,  discovered  by 
Vicente  Pinzon,  ii.  314. 

Amber,  specimens  of,  among  th« 
mountains  of  Cibao,  i.  410. 

Anacaona,  wife  to  Caonabo,  re* 


600 


INDEX. 


tires  with  hev  brother  Behechio, 
after  the  great  battle  of  the 
Vega,  ii.  47  ;  composes  legen- 
dary ballads,  ii.  156;  her  admi- 
ration of  the  Spaniards,  ib.  ; 
counsels  her  brother  to  concil- 
iate the  friendship  of  the  Span- 
iards, ib.  ;  her  reception  of  the 
Adelantado,  ii.  159;  her  won- 
der and  delight  at  seeing  a  Span- 
ish ship,  ii.  176  ;  her  grief  at  the 
departure  of  the  Adelantado,  ii. 
177  ;  her  conduct  in  respect  to 
her  daughter  and  Guevara,  ii. 
262 ;  her  admiration  of  the 
Spaniards  turned  into  detesta- 
tion, ii.  492 ;  receives  a  visit 
from  Ovando,  ii.  495  ;  is  seized, 
li.  496 ;  carried  in  chains  to  St. 
Domingo,  ii.  498;  and  igno- 
miniously  hanged,  ib. ;  her  fine 
character,  ii.  499. 

i  lana,  or  the  pine-apple,  first  met 
with,  i.  346. 

/  igol,  Luis  de  St.,  his  remon- 
strance with  the  queen  relative 
to  the  project  of  Columbus,  i. 
114  ;  succeeds,  i.  115. 

A..atigua,  island  of,  discovered,  i. 
352 

Antilles,  the,  discovered,  i.  352; 
taken  possession  of,  ib. 

Apparitions,  ideas  of  the  Hay  tiens 
in  respect  to,  i.  424. 

Appendix,  containing  illustrations 
and  documents,  iii.  337- 

Arana,  Diego  de,  left  in  charge  of 
Hispaniola,  during  tlie  first  ab- 
sence of  Columbus,  i.  250;  his- 
tory of  the  disaster  which  oc- 
curred to  him  after  the  depart- 
ure of  Columbus,  i.  386. 

Arauo,  Pedro  de,  commander  of 
one  of  Columbus's  ships  on  his 
third  voyage,  ii.  115. 

Arbolancha,  l^edro  de,  sent  by 
Nunez  to  Spain  to  make  known 
there  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  iii.  224;  arrives  there 
after  Davila  had  left  to  succeed 
Nunez,  iii.  230. 

Architecture,  first  signs  of  solid, 
found  in  the  New  World,  iii. 
168. 

Areytos,  or  ballads,  of  the  Ilay- 

tiens,  i.  426. 
irguello,  friend  of  Nunez,  arrested 


by  Pedrarias,  in*.  275  :  executed 
with  Nunez  and  others,  iii.  285. 

Aristizabal,  Don  Gabriel  de,  so- 
licits the  removal  of  the  remains 
of  Columbus,  iii.  339. 

Arriaga,  Luis  de,  is  shut  up  with- 
in the  walls  of  Magdalena,  ii 
17. 

Astrolabe,  the,  applied  to  naviga- 
tion, i.  61. 

Astrology,  superstition  in,  iii.  15V 

Atalantis,  Plato's,  observation! 
on,  iii.  401. 

Audience,  roval,  court  of,  estab- 
hshed,  iii.  352. 

Augustine,  St.,  his  arguments 
against  the  existence  of  Anti- 
podes, i  88. 

Augustine,  St.,  Cape  of,  discov- 
ered by  Pinzon,  ii.  315. 

Aurea  Chersonesus,  the  place 
whence  Solomon  is  supposed  to 
have  had  gold,  ii.  399  ;  supposed 
by  Columbus  that  he  had  dis- 
covered it,  iii.  66. 

Ayora,  sent  by  Pedrarias  to  the 
provinces  of  the  Southern  Sea, 
iii.  244  :  his  conduct,  ib. 

Azores,  the,  when  discovered,  i. 
29  ;  arrival  at  by  Columbus  on 
his  return  from  his  first  voyage, 

i.  272. 

B. 

Babeque,  a  supposed  island,  Co- 
lumbus goes  in  search  of,  i.  208, 
451. 

Badajos    Gonzalos,   forages  the 

country,  iii.  130. 
Bahama  Islands,  discovery  of,  i. 

165  :  cruise  among  the,  i.  17B. 
Ballads  of  the  Hay  tiens,  i.  426; 

ii.  51. 

Ballester,  Miguel,  his  conduct 
during  the  conspiracy  of  Rol- 
dan,  ii.  187 ;  receives  a  letter 
from  Columbus,  ii.  219 ;  hia 
character,  ii.  220 ;  interview 
with  Roldan,  ib.  ;  second  inter- 
view, ii.  229  ;  sends  advice  to 
the  admiral,  ii.  ib. ;  is  besieged 
in  the  fortress  of  Conception, 
ii.  231 ;  sails  for  Spain,  ii.  245. 

Balsas,  river  of,  iii.  267 ;  sudden 
rise  of,  iii.  268 ;  bridge  of  logg 
made  by  the  Indians,  ill,  269 


INDEX. 


GOl 


Barbas,  Las,  islands  of,  discovered, 
ii.  427. 

Barrantes,  Garcia  de,  sails  for 
Spain,  ii.  245. 

Barros,  Joani  de,  his  account  of 
Columbus's  proposition  to  John 
II.  king  of  Portugal,  i.  62. 

Basil,  St.,  his  description  of  Para- 
dise, iii.  441. 

Biistides,  Rodrigo,  of  Seville,  ex- 
plores the  coast  of  Terra  Firma, 

ii.  350  ;  ai-rives  at  Hispaniola, 
where  he  is  imprisoned  by  Boba- 
dilla,  ii.  352,  iii.  56  ;  voyage  of, 

iii.  54;  loses  his  ships,  iii.  55; 
sent  to  Spain  for  trial,  iii.  56; 
rewarded  by  the  crown,  ih. 

Baza,  surrender  of,  i.  99. 

Beata,  Cape,  sailors  of  Columbus 
climb  the  rock  of,  ii.  138. 

Behem,  Martin,  his  planisphere, i. 
135  ;  an  account  of,  iii.  427  ;  the 
assertion  relative  to  his  having 
discovered  the  western  world, 
previous  to  Columbus,  consid- 
ered, iii.  431. 

Behechio  assists  Caonabo,  and 
kills  one  of  the  wives  of  Guaca- 
nagari,  ii.  22  ;  the  only  Cacique 
who  does  not  sue  for  peace,  ii. 
47  ;  receives  a  visit  from  Bar- 
tholomew Columbus,  ii.  155 ;  his 
reception  of  him,  ii.  157;  con- 
sents to  pay  tribute,  ii.  161 ;  in- 
vites the  Adelantado  to  come 
and  receive  it,  ii.  174 ;  his  as- 
tonishment at  visiting  a  Span- 
ish ship,  ii.  176. 

Bclen,  river  of,  discovered,  ii.  392 ; 
abounds  in  fish,  ii.  401 ;  Colum- 
bus commences  a  settlement  on 
its  banks,  ii.  400. 

Bell  of  Isabella,  the  superstitious 
ideas  of  the  llaytiens  in  respect 
to  it,  ii.  k8. 

Belvis,  Pablo,  sent  to  Hayti  in  the 
place  of  Feruiin  Cedo,  ii.  62. 

Bentez,  Francisco,  opposes  the  au- 
thority of  JMescua,  iii.  155  ;  re- 
ceives one  hiuidred  lashes,  ib. 

Berahoma,  condemned  to  death 
for  having  violated  the  wife  of 
the  Cacique  of  the  Vega,  ii.  181 ; 
is  pardoned,  ii.  182. 

Berezillo,  a  famous  dog- warrior  of 
the  Spaniards,  iii.  320  ;  sagacity 
of,  ib.f  and  note. 


Bernaldes,  Andres,  i  short  ac 
count  of  his  life  and  writings, 
iii.  5S9. 

Bernardo  of  Valentia,  his  con- 
spiracy at  Jamaica,  ii.  460. 

Bicerra,  Francisco,  his  expeditioi 
to  Zenu,  iii.  263 ;  180  of  his  men 
lost,  ib. 

Bimini,  rejuvenating  buntain  of 
iii.  325 ;  expedition  of  Juan 
Ponce  to  bathe  in  the  waters 
iii.  327  ;  Island  of,  discovered 
by  Perez,  iii.  330 ;  account  of, 
iii.  331. 

Biru,  massacre  at  the  village  of  a 
Cacique  named,  iii.  258;  Peru 
supposed  to  be  named  after  this 
Cacique,  ib. ;  700  of  his  people 
killed  by  the  Spaniards,  ib.  ; 
Indian  prisoners  slain  by  Mo- 
rales, iii.  260. 

Bloodhounds,  first  use  of  in  the 
New  World,  i.  454  ;  employed 
by  Columbus  in  his  wars  with 
the  Haytiens,  ii.  42,  45  ;  terror 
of  Indians  at,  iii.  189  ;  made  by 
the  Spaniards  instruments  of 
great  cruelty,  iii.  194. 

Bobadilla,  Don  Francisco  de, 
charged  with  a  commission  to 
Hispaniola  to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  of  Columbus,  ii.  276; 
his  character,  ii.  277  ;  instruc- 
tions with  which  he  is  charged, 
ii.  278;  sails,  ii.  280;  arrives 
at  St.  Domingo,  ii.  281;  his 
judgment  formed  before  he 
leaves  his  ship,  ii.  283 ;  assumes 
power  on  landing,  ib.  ;  storms 
the  fortress  of  St.  Domingo,  ii. 
286 ;  assumes  the  government 
before  he  investigates  the  con- 
duct of  Columbus,  ii.  287  ;  seizes 
his  arms,  gold,  secret  ])apers, 
&c.,  ib.  ;  summons  Columbue 
to  appear  before  him,  ii.  293 ; 
his  baseness  in  collecting  evi- 
dence, ii.  294  ;  puts  Don  Diego 
in  chains,  ii.  295;  also  Colum- 
bus, ib.  ;  his  fears  in  respect  to 
the  Adelantado,  ii.  296 ;  puts 
him  in  irons,  ii.  297  ;  his  mal- 
administration, ii.  323 ;  a  saying 
of  his,  ii.  324 ;  imprisons  Bas- 
tides,  iii.  49;  superseded  in  his 
government  by  Ovandc,  i'.331 ; 
sails  for  Spain  and  is  lost*  with 


602 


INDEX. 


all  hif^  crew,  in  a  vio.ent  hurri- 
cane, ii.  355  ;  iii.  56. 

Boca  del  Sierpe,  ii  125. 

Borgonon,  Juan,  labors  to  con- 
vert the  Ilaytieus,  ii.  165. 

Boriquen,  see  Porto  Rico,  iii.  305. 

Boyle,  Bernardo,  friar,  appointed 
apostolical  vicar  for  the  New 
World,  i.  319  ;  his  advice  to  Co- 
lumbus in  respect  to  Guacana- 
gari,  i.  378 ;  confirms  the  ac- 
counts sent  home  by  Columbus, 
i.  394  ;  consecrates  the  first 
church  at  Isabella,  i.  396  ;  his 
character  and  conduct,  i.  434  ; 
his  hatred  of  Columbus,  ii.  14  ; 
encourages  the  misconduct  of 
Margarite,  ib.  ;  forms  the  plan, 
of  seizing  Bartholomew  Colum- 
bus's ships  and  returning  to 
Spain,  ii.  15;  sets  sail,  ii  16; 
his  accusations  of  Columbus  at 
the  court  of  Madrid,  ii.  56. 

Brandan,  St.,  imaginary  island 
of,  iii.  501. 

Brayoan,  Cacique  of  Porto  Rico, 
his  stratagem  to  test  the  im- 
mortality of  the  Spaniards,  iii. 
313  :  conspiracy  of  the  natives, 
iii.  314. 

Brazils,  the,  discovered  by  Vicente 
Pinzon,  ii.  314;  a  part  discov- 
ered and  taken  possession  of  for 
the  Portuguese  crown  by  Ca- 
bral,  ii.  317. 

Breviesca,  Ximeno  de,  a  worthless 
hireling,  ii.  109 ;  his  conduct 
and  punishment,  ib. 

Bridge  of  logs,  made  by  the  In- 
dians, iii.  269. 

Bucklers,  used  by  the  natives  of 
Trinidad,  ii.  122. 

Bull  of  Partition  issued  by  Pope 
Martin  V.,  i.  312;  relative  to 
the  New  World,  issued  by  Pope 
Alexander  VI.,  i.  314. 

—  of  Demarcation,  i.  314. 

Burgos,  the  court  held  at,  ii.  98. 

Butios,  the  priests  of  the  Hay- 
tiens,  i.  418. 

Butterflies,  clouds  of,  seen  on  the 
southern  coast  of  Cuba,  i.  474. 


C. 

Cftbot,  Sebastian,  discovers  Lab- 


rador, supposed  to  be  the  first 
that  visited  tlie  main-land  ol 
the  New  World,  iii.  417. 
Cabral,  Pedro  Alvarez  de,  discov- 
ers part  of  the  Brazils,  and 
takes  possession  of  it  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  Portugal, 

ii.  317. 

Cabron,  Cape,  or  Capo  del  Ena- 
morado,  i.  259. 

Cacao,  first  known  to  the  Spaa* 
iards,  ii.  360. 

Caciques,  seizure  of  fourteen,  in 
the  night,  by  Bartholomew  Co- 
lumbus and  his  officers,  ii.  170  ; 
eighteen  of  them  put  in  chains 
by  order  of  Morales  and  Pizarro, 

iii.  257  :  torn  to  pieces  by  blood- 
hounds, iii.  258  ;  prayer  of,  iii. 
216. 

Canaries,  an  optical  delusion  seen 
by  the  people  of  the,  i.  38 ;  ar- 
rival of  Columbus  at,  in  his  first 
voyage,  i.  137. 

Canaveral,  Cape  of,  doubled  by 
Ponce,  iii.  328. 

Canoes,  capable  of  containing  150 
persons,  seen  at  Puerto  Santo, 

i.  212 ;  large  size  of  those  at 
Jamaica,  i.  455. 

Caonabo,  character  and  conduct 
of,  i.  371 ;  takes  the  fortress  at 
La  Navidad,  ib.  ;  and  massacres 
the  Spaniards,  ib.  ;  assembles 
his  warriors,  i.  432 ;  Columbus 
leaves  directions  with  Margarite 
to  surprise,  i.  441 ;  besieges 
Ojeda,  ii.  18  ;  gives  up  the  siege 
and  retires ,  ii .  21 ;  forms  a  plan 
of  exterminating  the  Spaniards, 

ii.  22;  invades  the  territories  of 
Guacanagari,  ib.  ;  character  of 
ii.  28;  is  visited  by  Ojeda,  with 
a  design  to  entrap  him,  ii.  29; 
agrees  to  wait  upon  Columbus, 
and  sets  forward,  ii.  30  ;  is  taken 
by  stratagem,  /6. ;  is  chained, 
ib.  ;  his  conduct  when  in  th« 
presence  of  Columbus,  ii.  31; 
embarks  for  Spain,  ii.  80;  a 
Guadaloupe  woman  falls  in  love 
with  him,  ii.  84;  dies  on  tne 
voyage,  ii.  86. 

Careta,  Cacique  of  Coyba,  hospi- 
tality of  to  the  Spaniards,  iii, 
164 ;  is  visited  by  Nunez  and 
made  captive,  iii.  1G5 ;  his  ad« 


INDEX. 


603 


dress  makes  the  huitiauity  of 

Nunez  yield  to  him,  iii.  166; 

dauj^hter  of  marries  Niiiiez,  lb.  ; 

returns  to  his  territories,  ib. 
Carocol,  island  of,  ii.  135. 
Cariari,  transactions  at,  ii.  368 
Caribbee  Islands  discovered,  1. 

342,  344. 

Caribs,  charactei  of  the,  i.  347  ; 
origin  of,  i.  357  ,  cruelty  to,  iii. 
354. 

Caravajal,  Don  Garcia  Lopez  de, 
his  embassy  to  Portugal,  i,  326. 

Caravajal,  Alonzo  de,  commander 
of  one  of  Columbus's  ship«,  on 
his  third  voyage,  ii.  115  ;  ar- 
rives at  Hispaiiiola,  ii.  214  ;  vol- 
unteers to  endeavor  to  bring  the 
rebels  of  Xaragua  to  obedience, 
ii.  215 ;  his  ship  strikes  on  a 
sand  bank,  ii.  216;  arrives  at 
St.  Domingo  by  land,  ib.  :  sus- 
picions entertained  against  him, 
ii.  227  ;  takes  a  letter  from  the 
admiral  to  Roldan,  ii.  228; 
takes  propositions  from  Roldan 
to  the  admiral,  ii.  233;  another 
interview  with  Iloldan,  ii.  235  ; 
appointed  factor  to  Columbus, 

ii.  330  ;  his  evidence  relative  to 
the  discovery  of  the  coast  of 
Paria  by  Columbus,  iii,  411. 

Carracks,  description  of,  1.  338  ; 
see  note. 

Carthagena,  expedition  to,  iii.  79  ; 
natives  of,  ib. ;  destroyed  by 
the  Spaniards  in  revenge  of 
Cosa's  death,  iii.  89;  magnani- 
mous conduct  of  the  natives, 

iii.  135. 

Casas,  Las,  his  character  of  Don 
Diego  Columbus,  i.  401  ;  his  ob- 
servations relative  to  Hayti,  i. 
407  ;  his  account  of  two  Span- 
iards, i  437  ;  his  picture  of  the 
consequences  of  the  administra- 
tion of  Ovaudo,  ii.  3,  note  ;  his 
account  of  a  combat  between 
one  Indian  and  two  mounted 
cavaliers,  ii.  502;  is  present  at 
a  battle  in  lliguey,  ii.  508  ;  his 
remark  on  the  cold  reception  of 
Columbus  by  the  king,  ii.  540  ; 
his  remark  in  respect  to  the  in-  . 
justice  of  Ferdinand,  ii.  543 ;  \ 
an  account  of,  iii.  518  ;  his  zeal 
to  behalf  of  the  slaves,  iii.  524;  ' 


his  dubious  expedient  to  lessen 
the  quantum  of  human  misery, 
iii.  524 ;  character  of  his  Gen- 
eral History  of  the  Indies,  iii. 
526. 

Carillo,  Luis,  associated  with 
Nuilez  on  the  expedition  to  Do- 
bayba,  iii.  247;  is  killed,  ii', 
248. 

Castaneda,  Juan  de,  his  disgrace- 
ful reception  of  Columbus  OJS 
his  return  from  the  New  WoiM, 
i.  274;  cause  of  his  conduct,  i. 
278. 

Catalina,  a  Carib,  her  admiration 
of  Guacanagari,  i.  379;  pro- 
poses to  her  captive  companions 
an  attempt  to  regain  their  lib- 
erty, ib.  ;  escapes  by  swimming, 
ib. 

Catalina,  a  female  Cacique,  falls 
in  love  with  Miguel  Diaz,ii.  74  ; 
imparts  to  him  a  knowledge  of 
the  gold  mines  of  llayna,  ib. 

Cathay,  accounts  of  Marco  Polo, 
in  respect  to,  iii.  488;  of  Sir 
John  Mandeville,  iii.  496. 

Catherine,  St.,  discovery  of,  i.  211. 

Cavahers,  calamities  of,  at  Darien, 
iii.  241 ;  many  of  them  return 
to  Spain,  iii.  242. 

Cavern,  near  Cape  Frani^ois,  de- 
scription of,  i.  421. 

Caymans,  islands  of,  ii.  428. 

Cedo,  Fermin,  his  opinion  in  re- 
spect to  the  gold  found  in  His- 
paniola,  i.  399 ;  Belvis  sent  in 
his  place,  ii.  62. 

Ceuta,  the  bishop  of,  his  argu- 
ment.s  against  the  proposition 
of  Columbus,  i.  64  ;  proposes  to 
the  council  to  keep  Columbus 
in  suspense,  and  in  the  mean 
time  to  send  a  ship  in  the  rout« 
proposed,  i.  67 ;  this  advice 
acted  upon,  ib.  ;  and  fails,  ib. 

Chanca,  Dr.,  confirms  the  ac- 
counts sent  home  by  Columbus, 
i.  394. 

Charles  VIII.  king  of  France,  hia 
kindness  to  Bartholomew  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  5. 

Charles  V.  succeeds  his  grand- 
father, Ferdinand,  iii.  356  ;  rec- 
ognizes the  innocence  of  Don 
Diego  Columbus,  ib. ;  acknowl- 
edges the  right  of  Don  Diego  tf 


GOi 


INDEX. 


•?xercise  the  office  of  viceroy, 
ib.  :  his  orders  in  respect  to  the 
claims  of  Don  Diego's  widow, 
iii.  382  ;  his  ordinances  relative 
to  the  slave  trade,  iii.  523. 

C'larlevoix,  his  description  of  the 
sea  of  the  Antilles,  i.  192. 

Chaufepie,  Jacques  George,  a 
passage  from ,  in  respect  to  the 
Colombos,  iii.  387. 

('hiapes'  forbids  the  Spaniards  to 
enter  his  territory,  iii.  200  ;  the 
encounters  with  him,  ih. 

Christoval,  St.,  fortress  of,  erected 
by  Bartholomew  Columbus,  ii. 
152  ;  mountains  of,  ii.  395. 

Chuchama,  massacre  of,  iii.  256. 

Cibao,  Columbus's  expedition  to 
the  mountains  of,  i.  409;  mean- 
ing of  the  word  Cibao,  ib.  ;  Lux- 
an*s  description  of  the  moun- 
tains of,  i.  414. 

Ciguayens,  a  warlike  Indian  tribe, 
account  of,  i.  261. 

Cintra,  rock  of,  arrival  at,  by  Co- 
lumbus on  his  return  from  the 
New  World,  i.  281. 

Cipango  (or  Japan),  Marco  Polo's 
account  of,  iii.  492. 

Cities,  island  of  the  seven,  iii.  511. 

Cladera,  Don  Christoval,  his  refu- 
tation of  a  letter  written  by  M. 
Otto,  tr  Dr.  Franklin,  iii  431. 

Colon,  Diej^^o,  acts  as  interpreter, 
i.  448,  484 ;  his  speech  to  the 
natives  of  Cuba,  i.  484 ;  mar- 
ries the  daughter  of  the  Cacique 
Guarionex,  ii.  26. 

Jodro,  Micer,  the  Italinn  astrolo- 
ger, iii.  276;  his  prophecy  con- 
cerning Nunez,  iii.  277  ;  death 
of,  iii.  303;  prophecy  of,  con- 
cerning Yalenzuela,  iii.  302. 

Colombo,  the  old  Genoese  admiral, 
convoys  the  king  of  Portugal  to 
the'  Mediterranean  coast  of 
France,  i.  22. 

Colombo,  the  younger  (nephew  of 
the  old  admiral),  a  famous  cor- 
sair, i.  22. 

 ,  Balthazer,  of  Cuccaro, 

loses  his  cause  in  respect  to  the 
heirship  of  Columbus,  iii.  364. 

 ,  Juan,  commander  of 

one  of  Columbus's  ships  on  his 
third  voyage,  ii  115. 

Colombos,  the  navigators,  an  ac- 


count of,  iii.  386 .  capture cf  tha 
VeneJ-jan  galleys,  iii.  392. 
Columbus,  Bartholomew,  accom- 
panies Bartholomew  Diaz  along 
the  coast  of  Africa,  ii.  2 ;  an 
account  of  his  proceedings,  ii, 
3;  arrives  at  Valladolid,  ii.  5; 
sent  to  assist  his  brother  with 
three  ships,  ib. ;  character  of, 
ib.  ;  is  invested  by  Columbus 
with  the  title  and  authority  of 
Adelantado,  ii.  7  ;  attends  his 
brother  in  his  expedition  against 
the  Indians  of  the  Vega,  ii.  41  : 
goes  to  the  mines  of  Hayna,  ii. 
76  ;  is  invested  with  the  com- 
mand on  the  return  of  Colum- 
bus to  Spain,  ii.  79  ;  takes  Por- 
ras  prisoner,  ii.  478 ;  sails  to 
meet  his  brother,  ii.  140  ;  ac- 
count of  his  administration 
during  the  absence  of  Colum- 
bus, ii.  152 ;  sends  300  Indians 
to  Spain  to  be  sold  as  slaves,  ii 
154 ;  erects  the  fortress  of  San 
Domingo,  ii.  155;  pays  a  visit 
to  Behechio,  ii.  159;  his  recep- 
tion, ii.  160;  demands  a  tribute, 
ii.  161 ;  establishes  a  chain  ot 
military  posts,  ii.  163 ;  causes 
several  Indians  who  had  broken 
some  Christian  images,  &c.,  to 
be  burnt,  ii.  167 ;  marches 
against  the  Caciques,  who  had 
formed  a  conspiracy  against  the 
Spaniards,  ii.  170  ;  causes  them 
to  be  seized,  ib.  ;  pardons  most 
of  them,  ii.  171;  again  visits 
Behechio  to  receive  the  tribute  of 
cotton,  ii.  174  ;  his  skill  in  gov- 
ernment, ii.  177 ;  a  conspiracy 
formed  against/ him  by  Roldan, 
ii .  180  ;  narrowly  escapes  assas- 
sination, ii.  181;  repairs  to  the 
Vega  in  relief  of  Fort  Concep- 
tion, ii.  187  ;  his  interview  with 
Koldan,  ii.  188 ;  is  shut  iip  m 
Fort  Conception,  ii.  193;  r«»- 
lieved  b}^  the  arrival  of  Coronal, 
ii.  195 ;  publishes  an  amnestv 
to  all  who  return  to  their  duty, 
ii.  198;  marches  against  Guari- 
onex who  has  rebelled,  ii.  198; 
his  campaign  in  the  mountains 
of  Ciguay,  ii.  201 ;  releases  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  Caciquea 
whom  he  had  taken  with  May- 


INDEX. 


605 


ooaiiez,  ii  207  ;  favorable  con- 
sequences of  this,  ib. ;  is  put  iu 
irons  by  Bobadilla.  ii.297;  ac- 
companies Columbus  on  liis 
fourth  voyage,  ii.  349 ;  waits 
on  th6  Tovernor  of  Ercilla,  ib.  ; 
takes  possession  of  Cape  Hon- 
duras in  the  name  of  the  sov- 
ereigns of  Castile,  ii.  3G3  ;  lands 
at  Cariari,  ii.  372  ;  forms  a  plan 
to  seize  Quibian,  ii.  405;  does 
eCjWith  his  wives  and  children, 
ii.  407 ;  Quibian  escapes,  ii. 
408  ;  and  attacks  ia  return,  ii. 
411 ;  is  finally  compelled  to  re- 
move the  settlement  to  another 
place,  ii.  415  ;  is  in  great  danger, 
ii.  416 ;  compelled  to  embark 
"with  his  brother  and  all  his 
men,  ii.  424 ;  sets  sail  from  St. 
Domingo  for  Spain  with  his 
brother,  ii,  524 ;  proceeds  to 
court  to  urge  the  justice  of  the 
king,  ii.  539;  accompanies  his 
brother  to  court,  ib.  ;  goes  to 
represent  his  brother  on  the  ar- 
rival of  the  new  king  and  queen 
of  Castile,  ii.  548  ;  is  sent  out  to 
St.  Domingo  by  Ferdinand  to 
admonish  his  nephew,  Don  Di- 
ego, iii.  302 ;  is  presented  with 
the  property  and  government 
of  Mona  for  Hfe,  &c,,  iii.  301  ; 
dies  at  St.  Domingo,  iii.  302: 
his  character,  ib. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  account 
of  his  birth,  parentage,  and 
education,  i.  12  ;  early  life  of,  i. 
13;  his  first  voyage,  i.  IS;  en- 
gages in  the  service  of  Reinier, 
king  of  Naples,  i.  19  ;  alters  the 
point  of  the  compass  of  his 
ship  to  deceive  his  discontented 
crew,  i.  21 ;  engaged  in  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Levant, 
ib. ;  said  to  be  appointed  cap- 
tain of  several  Genoese  ships  in 
the  service  of  Louis  XI.,  ib. ; 
his  gallant  conduct  when  sail- 
ing with  Colombo  the  younger, 
i.  22;  goes  to  Lisbon,  where  he 
takes  up  his  residence,  i.  23,  33 ; 
picture  of  his  person,  i.  40; 
early  character,  ib.  ;  becomes 
enamo*'ed  of  Dona  Felipa  Monis 
de  Pales trello,  whom  he  mar- 
ries, i    11;  becomes  possessed 


of  his  father-in-law's  charts, 
journals,  &c.,  i.  35;  removes  to 
the  island  of  Porto  Santo,  i.  37 ; 
becomes  acquainted  with  Pedro 
Correo,  a  navigator  of  note,  ib.  ; 
is  animated  with  a  wi-h  to  make 
discoveries,  ib.  ;  grounds  on 
Avhich  he  founds  his  belief  of 
the  existence  of  undiscovered 
countries  in  the  \\^est,  i.  42  ;  cor- 
respondence of  Columbus  with 
Paulo  Toscanelli,  i.  54;  makes 
a  voyage  to  the  north  of  Europe, 
i.  56  ;  the  astrolabe  having  been 
applied  to  navigation,  Colum- 
bus proposes  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery to  John  II.  king  of  Por- 
tugal, i.  60;  this  proposition  is 
referred  to  a  junto  charged  with 
ail  matters  relating  to  maritime 
discovery,  i.  63 ;  who  regard  the 
project  as  visionary,  i.  64;  the 
king  then  refers  it  to  his  coun- 
cil, ib,  ;  by  whom  it  is  con- 
demned, ib. ;  a  ship  is  secretly 
sent  in  the  direction  proposed, 
but  returns,  i.  67  ;  Columbus's 
indignation,  ib.  ;  loses  his  wife, 
ib. ;  quits  Portugal,  i.  68;  goes 
to  Genoa  and  proposes  his  pro- 
ject to  the  government,  i.  69; 
it  is  rejected,  ib. ;  supposed  by 
some  to  have  carried  his  plan 
to  Venice,  i.  70 ;  visits  his  father, 
ib. ;  arrives  in  Spain,  and  re- 
quests a  little  bread  and  water 
at  a  convent  of  Franciscan 
friars,  i.  104;  the  prior  detains 
him  as  a  guest,  i.  105  ;  and  in- 
vites Garcia  Fernandez  to  meet 
him,  ib.  ;  gives  him  letters  of 
introduction  to  Fernando  de 
Talavera,  Queen  Isabella's  con- 
fessor, i.  107 ;  sets  out  for  Cor- 
dova, i.  71 ;  arrives  there,  i.  78 
finds  it  impossible  to  obtain  a 
hearing,  i.  79  ;  the  queen's  cou 
fossor  regards  his  plan  as  im 
possible,  7fe.  ;  maintains  himself 
by  designing  maps  and  charts 
i.  101 ;  is  received  into  the  hous« 
of  Alonzo  de  Quintanilla,  i.  78; 
introduced  to  the  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  i.  80  ;  who  gives  him  an 
attentive  hearing,  i.  81 ;  be* 
comes  his  friend  and  procures 
him  an  audience  of  the  king,  ih. ; 


606 


INDEX. 


who  desires  the  prior  of  Prado 
to  assemble  astronomers,  &c., 
to  hold  conference  with  him ,  /6. ; 
Columbus  appears  before  the 
assembly  at  Salamanca,  i.  84; 
arguments  against  his  theory, 
i.  85;  his  reply,  i.  86;  the  sub- 
ject experiences  procrastination 
and  neglect,  i.  90;  is  compelled 
to  follow  the  movements  of  the 
court,  i.  95;  his  plan  recom- 
mended by  the  marchioness  of 
Moya,  i.  96,  108,  11(3;  receives 
an  invitation  to  return  to  Por- 
tugal from  John  II.,  i.  97;  re- 
ceives a  favorable  letter  from 
Henry  VII.  of  England,  ib.  ;  dis- 
tinguishes himself  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1489,  and  is  impressed 
deeply  with  the  arrival  and  mes- 
sage of  two  friars  from  the  sol- 
dan  of  Egypt  relative  to  the 
Holy  Land,  i.  100;  determines 
to  devote  the  profits  arising  from 
his  intended  discovery  to  the 
purpose  of  rescuing  the  holy 
sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the 
infidels,  ib.  \  council  of  learned 
men  again  convened,  i  102; 
who  pronounce  the  scheme  vain 
and  impossible,  ib. ;  receives  a 
message  from  the  sovereigns,  1, 
103 ;  has  an  audience  of  the 
sovereigns,  ib. ;  leaves  Seville  in 
disgust,  ib. ;  forms  a  connection 
with  Beatrix  Enriquez,  i.  80; 
applies  to  the  duke  of  Medina 
Sidonia,  who  rejects  his  plan,  i. 
70 ;  applies  to  the  duke  of  Me- 
dina Cell,  who  is  prevented  from 
acceding  to  his  plan  from  a  fear 
of  the  court,  i.  71 ;  returns  to 
the  convent  of  La  Kabida,  i. 
106;  Alonzo  Pinzon  offers  to 
pay  his  expenses  in  a  renewed 
application  to  the  court,  ib. ,  re- 
turns at  the  desire  of  the  queen, 
i.  108;  witnesses  the  surrender 
of  Granada  to  the  Spanish  arms, 
i.  110 ;  negotiation  with  per- 
sons appointed  by  the  sover- 
eigns, i.  112;  his  propositions 
are  considered  extravagant,  ib. ; 
are  pronounced  inadmissible, 
I.  113 ;  lower  terms  are  offered 
him,  which  he  rejects,  1 6. ;  the 
negotiation    broken    off,    ib. : 


quits  Santa  F6,  114;  Luis  'tj 

St.  Angel  T'easons  with  the 
queen,  «6. ;  who  at  last  consents, 
i.  116  ;  a  messenger  dispatched 
to  recall  Columbus,  i.  117  ;  he 
returns  to  Santa  Fe,  ib.  ;  ar- 
rangement with  the  Spanii^b 
sovereigns,  i.  118  :  his  son  ap 
pointed  page  to  Prince  Juan,  i. 
123 ;  he  returns  to  La  Rabida 
i.  124;  preparations  at  the  port 
of  Palos,  and  apprehensiona 
there  relative  to  the  expedition, 
ib. ;  not  a  vessel  can  be  pro- 
cured, i.  126 ;  they  are  at  last 
furnished,  i.  127;  Columbus 
hoists  his  flag,  i.  129;  sails,  i 
134 ;  prologue  to  his  voyage,  i 
131 ;  an  account  of  the  map  he 
had  prepared  previous  to  sail- 
ing, i.  133  ;  difficulties  begin  to 
arise,  i.  135;  arrives  at  the  Ca- 
naries, i.  137  ;  comes  in  sight  of 
Mount  Teneriffe,  /6.  ;  arrives  at 
Gomera,  -ib.  ;  the  news  which 
reached  him  there,  ib.\  alarm 
of  his  sailors  on  losing  all  sight 
of  land,  i.  140;  begins  to  keep 
two  reckonings,  i.  141;  talis  in 
with  part  of  a  mast,  ib  ;  notices 
a  variation  of  the  needle,  142; 
his  opinion  relative  to  that  phe- 
nomenon, ib.  ;  they  are  visited 
by  two  birds,  i.  144 ;  terrors  of 
the  seamen,  ib.  ;  sees  large 
patches  of  weeds,  i.  146;  his 
situation  becomes  more  critical, 
i.  148 ;  part  of  his  crew  deter- 
mine, should  he  refuse  to  re- 
turn, to  throw  him  into  the  sea, 
i.  156 ;  ffilse  appearance  of  land, 
i.  157  ;  his  crew  become  exceed- 
ingly clamorous,  i.  161 ;  the  as- 
sertion that  he  capitulated  with 
them  disproved,  ib.  ;  his  address 
to  the  crew,  i.  163 ;  sees  a  ligh\ , 
i.  164;  land  discovered,  i.  165  J 
the  reward  for  land  adjudged  to 
him,  ib. ;  lands  on  the  island  of 
St.  Salvador,  i.  168 ;  which  he 
takes  possession  of  in  the  name 
of  the  Castilian  sovereigns,  ib. ; 
the  surprise  of  the  natives^  i. 
169 ;  gold  first  discovered,  i.  1,4 ; 
reconnoitres  the  island,  i.  175  ; 
takes  seven  of  the  inhabit inta 
to  teach  them   Spanish  tbal 


INDEX. 


607 


fchey  might  become  interpreters, 
I.  176;  discovers  Santa  Maria 
de  la  Oonception,  i.  179;  dis- 
covers Exuma,  i.  182;  discovers 
Isabella,  i.  184;  hears  of  two 
islands  called  Cuba  and  Bohio, 
i.  186;  sails  in  search  of  the 
former,  i.  188  ;  discovers  it,  i. 
189;  takes  formal  possession, 
ib. ;  sends  two  Spaniards  up  the 
country,  i.  197;  coasts  along 
the  shore,  i.  199;  return  of  the 
Spaniard?  with  their  report,  i. 
201,  202;  goes  in  search  of  the 
supposed  island  of  Babeque,  i. 
208;  discovers  an  archipelago, 
to  which  he  gives  the  name  of 
the  King's  Garden,  i.  209;  de- 
sertion of  Alonzo  Pinzon,  ib. ; 
discovers  St.  Catharine,  in 
which  he  finds  stones  veined 
with  gold,  i.  211;  specimen  (0 
his  style  in  description,  ib.\ 
reaches  what  he  supposes  to  be 
the  eastern  extremity  of  Asia, 
i.  212;  discovers  Hispaniola,  i. 
215 ;  its  transcendent  appear- 
ance, ib.  ;  enters  a  liarbor,  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of  St. 
Nicholas,  ib.  ;  a  female  brought 
to  him  who  wore  an  ornament 
of  gold  in  her  nose,  i.  217; 
coasts  along  the  shores,  i.  223 ; 
is  visited  by  a  Cacique,  i.  225  ; 
receives  a  message^  from  Gua- 
canagari,  i.  227  ;  his  ship  strikes 
upon  a  sand-bank  in  the  night, 
i.  231 ;  some  of  his  crew  desert  in 
a  boat,  ib.  ;  the  ship  becomes  a 
wreck,  and  he  takes  refuge  on 
board  a  caravel ,  i .  232  ;  receives 
assistance  from  Guacanagari,  i. 
233 ;  transactions  with  the  na- 
tives, 1.  235;  is  invited  to  the 
residence  of  Guacanagari,  i. 
236 ;  his  affectionate  reception 
of  him,  i.  237,  238  ;  his  people 
desire  to  have  permission  to 
remain  in  the  island,  i.  242; 
he  forms  the  plan  of  a  colony, 
and  the  de-ign  of  constructing 
a  fortress,  i.  243  ;  and  of  return- 
ing to  Spain  for  reinforcements, 
ib. ;  entertained  in  the  most 
hospitable  manner  by  Guacan- 
agari, i.  246;  who  procures  for 
hiin  a  great  quantity  of  gold 


previous  to  his  departure,  ib.  \ 
his  address  to  the  people,  i.  250 ; 
gives  a  feast  to  the  chieftains, 
i.  251;  sails,  i.  253;  coasts  to- 
wards the  eastern  end  of  His- 
paniola, i.  255;  meets  with  Pin- 
zon, i.  256;  Pinzon's  apology, 
ib.  ;  account  of  the  Ciguavens, 
1.  260 ;  the  first  native  blood 
shed  by  the  whites,  i.  261 ;  ac- 
count of  the  return  voyage,  i. 
265  ;  encounters  violent  storms, 
i.  267;  the  crew  draw  lots  who 
shall  perform  pilgrimages,  i. 
268;  two  lots  fall  to  the  admi- 
ral; vows  made,  /6.  ;  commits 
an  account  of  his  voyage  in  a 
barrel  to  the  sea,  i.  271 ;  land 
discovered,  i.  272  ;  which  proves 
to  be  the  Azores,  ib.  ;  transac- 
tions at  St.  Mary's,  i.  274  ;  "re- 
ceives supplies  and  a  message 
from  the  governor,  ib. ;  at- 
tempted performance  of  the  vow 
made  during  the  storm,  i.  275; 
the  seamen  taken  prisoners  by 
the  rabble,  headed  by  the  gov- 
ernor, ib. ;  the  governor's  dis- 
graceful conduct,  i.  276 ;  seamen 
liberated,  i.  278  ;  cause  of  the 
governor's  conduct,  ib.  ;  violent 
gales,  i.  279;  lots  for  pilgrim- 
ages again  cast,  i.  280 ;  arrives 
off  Cintra,  in  Portugal,  i.  281; 
writes  to  the  sovereigns  and  the 
king  of  Portugal,  i.  282  ;  is  sum- 
moned by  a  Portuguese  admi- 
ral to  give  an  account  of  him- 
self, ib. ;  effect  of  his  return 
at  Lisbon,  i.  283  ;  receives  an 
invitation  from  the  king  of 
Portugal,  i.  284  ;  interview  with 
the  king,  ib.  ;  jealousy  of  the 
king  excited,  i.  286  ;  a  proposi- 
tion to  the  king  by  some  of  his 
courtiers  to  assassinate  Colum- 
bus, and  take  advantage  of  his 
discoveries,  i.  287  ;  rejected  by 
the  king,  i.  288 ;  disgraceful 
plot  of  the  king  to  rob  Spain  of 
the  newly  discovered  posses- 
sions, ib.  ;  his  interview  with 
the  queen  of  Portugal,  1.  289 ; 
enters  the  harbor  of  Palos,  ib. ; 
account  of  his  reception  there, 
i.  290  ;  arrival  of  Pinzon,  1.  292 ; 
receives  an  invitation  from  th« 


808 


INDEX. 


Hovereigns  at  Barcelona,  i.  296; 
bis  reception  on  the  road,  i. 
297  ;  is  received  in  a  magnificent 
manner  by  the  courtiers,  i.  298  ; 
and  the  sovereigns,  i.  299  ;  his 
vow  in  respect  to  the  holy  sep- 
ulchre, i.  301 ;  the  manner  in 
■which  his  discoveries  were  re- 
ceived throughout  Europe,  i. 
303;  a  coat  of  arms  given  him, 
i.  306;  the  manner  in  which  he 
receives  the  honors  paid  to  him, 
i.  308  ;  preparations  for  a  second 
Toyage,  i.  315;  agreement  made 
with  the  sovereigns,  i.  320  ;  pow- 
ers with  which  he  is  invested, 
ih. :  takes  leave  of  the  sover- 
eigns at  Barcelona,  i.  321 ;  ar- 
rives at  Seville,  i.  328;  prepares 
for  the  voyage,  ib. ;  ideas  of 
Columbus  and  the  people  rel- 
ative to  the  New  World,  i  329; 
insolence  of  Juan  de  Soria,  i. 
333 ;  conduct  of  Fonseca,  ib. ; 
departure  on  his  second  voyage, 
i.  338 ;  anchors  at  Gomera,  i. 
340 ;  gives  sealed  instructions 
to  the  commander  of  each  ves- 
sel, ib. ;  sees  a  swallo\v,  i.  341 ; 
encounters  a  storm,  ib.]  sees 
the  lights  of  St.  Elmo,  i.  342; 
iiscovers  the  Caribbee  Islands, 
■lb. ;  takes  possession  of  them, 
i  344 ;  discovers  Guadaloupe, 
i.  345 ;  transactions  there,  i. 
345,  347 ;  cruises  among  the 
Caribbees,  i.  353;  arrives  at 
Ilispaniola,  i.  380 ;  at  the  gulf 
of  Samana,  i.  361  ;  anchors  at 
Monte  Christi,  ib.  ;  arrives  at 
La  Navidad,  i.  352;  is  visited 
by  a  cousin  of  the  Cacique,  i. 
863  ;  learns  a  disaster  which  had 
occurred  at  the  fortress,  ib.  ; 
visits  Guacanagari,  i.  374; 
abandons  La  Navidad,  i.  381; 
founds  the  city  of  Isabella  at 
Monte  Christi,  i.  383 ;  falls  sick, 
I.  385 ;  sends  Alonzo  de  Ojeda 
to  explore  the  interior  of  the 
Island,  i.  387;  dispatches  twelve 
ships  to  Spain,  i  390  ;  requests 
fresh  supplies,  i.  391;  recom- 
mends Pedro  Margarite  and 
Juan  Aguado  to  the  patronage 
of  the  goverment,  i.  392  ;  rec- 
ommends a  curious  plan  in  re- 


spect to  an  exchange  o*'  Carifca 
for  live  stock,  i.  393 ;  recom- 
mendation of  ColumbiiS  in  re- 
spect to  the  Caribs,  ib.\  uie 
conduct  in  respect  to  Dia/.'? 
mutiny,  i.  399  ;  consequences,  i 
400;  sets  out  on  an  expediticr 
to  the  mountains  of  Cibao.  i 
401 ;  erects  a  fortress  of  wood 
among  the  mountains,  i.  410; 
returns  to  Isabella,  i.431;  re- 
ceives unpleasant  intelligence 
from  Pedro  Margarite,  i.  432; 
sickness  in  the  colony,  i.  433; 
puts  his  people  on  short  allow- 
ance, i.  434 ;  offends  the  Hi- 
dalgos, by  making  them  share 
the  common  labors  of  the  col- 
ony, i.  435;  distributes  his 
forces  in  the  interior,  i.  439; 
gives  the  command  of  them  to 
^ Pedro  Margarite,  i.  440;  his  in- 
structions to  that  officer,  ib. ; 
instructs  Margarite  to  surpriso 
and  secure  Caonabo,  i  441; 
his  conduct  in  respect  to  Hay- 
tien  thieves,  i.  442 ;  sails  for 
Cuba,  i.  445  ;  visits  La  Navidad, 
i.  447 ;  arrives  at  St.  Nicholas, 
ib.  ;  lands  at  Guantanamo,  i. 
448 ;  anchors  at  St.  Jago,  i.  451 ; 
sails  in  search  of  Babeque,  ib. ; 
discovers  Jamaica  i.  452 ;  re- 
ceived in  a  hostile  manner,  i. 
453;  takes  possession  of  the 
island,  i.  454  ;  amicable  inter- 
course with  the  natives,  ib. ; 
returns  to  Cuba,  i.  456 ;  lands 
at  Cabo  de  la  Cruz,  i.  458  ;  en- 
counters a  storm,  i.  459;  be 
comes  engaged  in  a  most  diffi- 
cult navigation,  ib.  ;  discovers 
an  archipelago,  to  which  h* 
gives  the  name  of  the  Queen's 
Gardens,  ib. ;  hears  of  a  prov- 
ince called  Mangon,  which 
greatly  excites  his  attention,  i 
463 ;  coasts  along  the  southern 
Bide  of  Cuba,  i.  465  ;  encounters 
a  dangerous  navigation  in  a 
whit-;  se  i,  i.  467;  sends  parties 
to  explf  re  the  interior  of  the 
countr  i.  469  ;  deceives  him- 
self ir  respect  to  what  he 
wishes,  i.  472;  fancies  he  liae 
arrived  on  that  part  of  Asia 
which  is  beyond  the  boundarief 


INDEX 


609 


of  the  Old  World,  laid  down  by  [ 
Ptolemy,  i.  47«5 ;  anticipates 
returning  to  Spain  by  the  Au- 
rea  Chersonesiis,  Taprobana, 
the  Straits  of  Babelmandel,  and 
the  Red  Sea,  or  the  Coast  of 
Africa,  ib.  ;  returns  along  the 
soutliern  coast  of  Cuba,  in  the 
assurance  that  Cuba  was  the 
extremity  of  the  Asiatic  conti- 
Dent  .  477,  478 ;  discovers  the 
island  of  Evaugelista,  i.  480; 
his  ship  runs  aground,  i.  481; 
sails  along  the  province  of 
Orna.fay,  ib. ;  erects  crosses  in 
conspicuous  situations  to  de- 
note his  discoveries,  i.  483;  is 
addressed  by  an  Indian,  ib. ; 
takes  an  Indian  with  him,  i. 
488;  his  ship  leaks,  i.  487; 
reaches  Santa  Cruz,  ib.  ;  coasts 
along  the  south  side  of  Ja- 
maica, ib. ;  his  ship  visited  by 
a  Cacique  and  his  whole  family, 
i.  488  ;  who  offer  to  accompany 
him  to  Spain  to  do  homage  to 
the  king  and  queen,  i.  490;  he 
evades  this  offer,  ib.  ;  coasts 
along  the  south  side  of  His- 
paniola,  i.  492 ;  makes  an  error 
in  reckoning,  i.  495 ;  arrives  at 
Mona,  ib. ;  is  suddenly  deprived 
of  all  his  faculties,  i.  496 ;  ar- 
rives at  Isabella,  i.  497 ;  is 
joined  by  his  brother  Bartholo- 
mew, ii.  2 ;  invests  him  with 
the  title  and  authority  of  Ade- 
lantado,  ii.  7;  is  visited  by 
Guacanagari,  who  informs  him 
of  a  league  formed  against  him 
by  the  Haytien  Caciques,  ii  24  j 
his  measures  to  restore  the 
quiet  of  the  island,  ii.  25  ;  wins 
over  Guarionex,  and  prevails 
upon  him  to  give  his  daughter 
in  marriage  to  Diego  Colon,  ii. 
26;  builds  Fort  Conception,  in 
the  territories  of  Guarionex,  ii. 
^Ll ;  Caonabo  is  delivered  into 
his  hands  by  Ojeda,  ii.  31 ;  he 
puts  him  in  chains,  ii.  32  his  in- 
terview  with  him,  ii.  33  ;  nis  anx- 
iety relieved  by  the  arrival  of 
Antonio  ie  Torres,  ii.  35  ;  sends 
home  specimens  of  gold,  plants, 
&c.,  and  five  hundred  Indian 
prisoners  to  be  sold  as  slaves, 
VOL.  nr.  39 


[  ii.  88 ;  undertakes  an  exi^ditioti 
against  the  Indians  of  the  Vega, 
ii.  40;  a  brittle  ensues,  ii.  44 
the  Indians  defeated,  ib. ;  makei 
a  military  tour  through  various 
parts  of  the  island,  and  reduces 
it  to  obedience,  ii.  46;  impcsea 
a  tribute,  ii.  48;  refuses  the 
offer  of  Guarionex  to  cultivate 
grain  instead  of  paying  in  gold, 
ii.  49 ;  erects  forts,  ii.  50  ;  the 
natives  having  destroyed  the 
crops,  are  hunted  and  com 
pelled  to  return  to  their  labors, 
ii.  53;  account  of  the  intrigues 
against  Columbus  in  the  court 
of  Spain,  ii.  56 ;  charges  brought 
against  him,  ib. ;  his  popularity 
declines  in  consequence,  ii.  57  ; 
measures  taken  in  Spain,  ii. 
68 ;  Aguado  arrives  at  Isabella 
to  collect  information  relative 
to  the  state  of  the  colony,  ii. 
65 ;  his  dignified  conduct  at 
his  first  interview  with  Aguado, 
ii.  68  ;  the  Caciques  prefer  com- 
plaints against  him,  ii.  69;  he 
resolves  on  returning  to  Spain, 
ib.  ;  a  violent  hurricane  occurs 
previous  to  his  departure, 
which  sinks  six  caravels,  ii.  71 ; 
pleased  with  the  discovery  of 
the  gold  mines  of  Hayna,  ii. 
73 ;  orders  a  fort  to  be  erected, 
ii.  77 ;  invests  his  brother  with 
the  command,  ii.  79;  sails  for 
Spain,  ib.\  arrives  at  Guada- 
loupe,  ii.  81 ;  his  politic  con- 
duct there,  ib. ;  leaves  Guada- 
loupe,  ii.  84  ;  a  famine  on  board 
the  ships,  ib. :  his  magnani- 
mous conduct,  ii.  85;  arrives  in 
Spain,  ib. ;  his  representation 
of  things,  ii.  89  ;  writes  instruc- 
tions for  the  conduct  of  Bar- 
tholomew, ii.  90 ;  invited  to 
court,  ib. ;  favorably  received, 
ii .  92  •  proposes  a  third  voyage 
of  discover}',  ii.  93;  the  king 
promises  him  ships,  ib.  :  delays 
and  their  causes,  ii.  93,  95  ;  re- 
fuses the  title  of  duke  or  mar- 
quess, and  a  grf,nt  of  lands  iu 
Ilispaniola,  ii.  99;  terms  ou 
which  he  was  to  sail,  ib. ;  hon- 
ors bestowed  upon  him,  ii.  100 
his  respect  and  love  for  Genoa 


610 


INDEX. 


ii.  101 ;  makes  his  will,  ih. ; 
odium  thrown  upon  his  enter- 
prises, ii.  104;  plan  to  \yhich 
he  was  couipelled  to  resort  to 
procure  uieu  for  his  third  voy- 
age, ii.  105;  in  consequence  of 
delays,  he  almost  resolves  to 
give  up  all  further  enterprise, 
ii.  108 ;  chastises  a  minion  of 
Fonseca,  ii.  109  ;  consequences 
of  this  chaslisement,  ii.  110; 
Bets  sail,  ii.  Ill;  liis  opinion  in 
respect  to  a  continent  in  the 
Southern  Ocean,  ?6.;  arrives  at 
Gomara,  ii.  114 ;  retakes  a 
Spanish  ship,  ib. ;  is  seized  with 
a  fit  of  the  gout,  ii.  115 ;  ar- 
rives among  the  Gape  de  Verde 
Islands,  ib. ;  sees  the  island  Del 
Fuego,  ii.  116 ;  arrives  under 
the  line,  ii.  117 ;  the  heat  be- 
comes intolerable,  and  he  alters 
his  course,  ii.  118 ;  discovers 
Trinidad,  ii.  119;  discovers  Ter- 
ra Firma,  ii.  121 ;  steers  along 
the  coast  of  Trinidad,  ib. ;  dif- 
ficulty in  respect  to  a  rapid  cur- 
rent, ii.  124  ;  enters  the  Gulf  of 
Paria,  ii.  126;  suffers  from  a 
complaint  in  the  eyes,  ii.  134; 
discovers  the  islands  of  Mar- 
garita and  Cubagua,  ii.  137; 
exchanges  plates,  &c.,  for 
pearls,  ib.  ;  his  complaint  in 
the  eyes  increases,  ii.  138 ;  ar- 
rives at  Hispaniola,  ib.  ;  his 
brother  sails  to  meet  him,  ii. 
140 ;  his  constitution  seems  to 
give  way,  ib. ;  his  speculations 
relative  to  the  coast  of  Paria, 
ii.  142 ;  polar  star  augmenta- 
tion, ii.  145;  doubts  the  re- 
ceived theory  of  the  earth,  ib.  ; 
accounts  for  variation  of  the 
needle,  ii.  146 ;  difference  of 
climate,  &c.,  ib.  :  arrives  at 
San  Domingo,  ii.  210 ;  state  of 
his  health,  on  arriving  at  His- 
paniola, ib. ;  state  of  the  colony, 
li.  211,  212  ;  negotiates  with  the 
rebels,  ii.  218 ;  offers  free  pas- 
sage to  all  who  desire  to  return 
to  Spain,  ii.  219;  offers  a  par- 
don to  Roldan,  which  is  received 
with  contempt,  ii.  221  ;  writes 
to  Spain  an  account  of  the  re- 
beUien,  &c.,  and  requires  a 


judge  and  some  mi?siou&fie8  tc 
be  sent  out,  ii.  224;  writes  ? 
conciliating  letter  to  Roldan 
ii.  227;  interviews  with  Roldan, 
ii.  230  ;  issues  a  proclamation 
of  pardon,  ii.  231 ;  receives  pro. 
posals,  which  he  accedes  to,  ii 
235  ;  goes  on  a  tour  to  visit  tha 
various  stations,  ii.  234;  re- 
ceives a  cold  letter  from  the 
sovereigns,  written  by  Fonseca^ 
ii.  236 ;  the  former  arrange- 
ment with  Roldan  not  having 
been  carried  into  effect,  entcrg 
into  a  second,  ii.  237 ;  grants 
lands  to  Roldan's  followers,  ii. 
240 ;  considers  Hispaniola  in 
the  light  of  a  conquered  coun- 
try, ii.  242;  reduces  the  natives 
to  the  condition  of  villains  or 
vassals,  ib.  ;  grants  lands  to 
Roldan,  ii.  243;  determines  on 
returning  to  Spain,  ii.  244 ;  but 
is  prevented  by  circumstances, 
ib. ;  writes  to  the  sovereigns,  en- 
treating them  to  inquire  into 
the  truth  of  the  late  transac- 
tions, ii.  245;  requests  tliat  his 
son,  Diego,  might  be  sent  out 
to  him,  ii.  247  ;  sends  Roldan 
to  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who  has 
arrived  on  the  western  coast  on 
a  voyage  of  discovery,  ii.  249; 
his  indignation  at  the  breach 
of  prerogative  implied  by  this 
voyage,  ii.  254;  heats  of  a  con- 
spiracy entered  into  against 
him  by  Guevara  and  Moxica, 
ii.  265;  seizes  Moxica,  ii.  266; 
and  orders  him  to  be  flung 
headlong  from  the  battlements 
of  Fort  Conception,  ib. ;  vigor 
ous  proceedings  against  the 
rebels,  ii.  267  ;  beneficial  con- 
sequences, ii.  268 ;  visionary 
fancy  at  night,  ib. ;  represen- 
tations at  court  against  him, 
ii.  270 ;  his  sons  insulted  at 
Granada,  ii.  272;  the  queen  is 
offended  at  his  pertinacity  in 
making  slaves  of  those  taken  in 
warfare,  ii.  275 ;  and  consent! 
to  the  sending  out  a  commis- 
sion to  investigate  his  conduct, 
ii.  276;  Bobadilla  is  sent  ou*, 
ii.  277 ;  and  arrives  f  t  St.  Do- 
mingo, ii.  281 ;  his  judgment 


INDEX. 


611 


formed  before  he  leaves?  his 
ship,  ii.  283 ;  he  seizes  upon  the 
government  before  he  investi- 
gates the  conduct  of  Columbus, 
ii.  285;  Cohimbus  is  summoned 
to  appear  before  Bobadilla,  ii. 
289;  goes  to  St.  Domingo  wit  i- 
out  guards  or  retinue,  and  is 
put  in  irons  and  confined  in 
the  fortress,  295 ;  his  magna- 
nimity, ii.  296  ;  cliarges  against 
him,  ii.  299 :  jubilee  of  mis- 
creants on  his  degradation,  ii. 
802;  his  colloquy Vith  Villejo, 
previous  to  their  sailing,  ii.  303  ; 
sails,  ib.  ;  arrives  at  Cadiz,  ii. 
305;  sensation  in  Spain  on  his 
arrival  in  irons,  ib. ;  sends  a 
letter  to  Donna  J  nana  de  la 
Torre,  with  an  account  of  his 
treatment,  ii.  308;  indignation 
of  the  sovereigns  at  reading  this 
account,  ii.  308;  is  invited  to 
court,  ii.  309  ;  his  gracious  re- 
ception there,  ib.  ;  his  emotion, 
ib. ;  is  promised  a  full  restitu- 
tion of  his  privileges  and  dig- 
nities, ii.  810  ;  disappointed  in 
receiving  them,  ii.  311 ;  causes, 
ib, ;  his  interests  ordered  to  be 
respected  in  Hispaniola  by 
Ovando,  ii.  329  ;  remembers  his 
vow  to  furnish  an  army  where- 
with to  recover  the  holy  sep- 
ulchre, ii.  335;  endeavors  to 
incite  the  sovereigns  to  the  en- 
terprise, ii.  337 ;  forms  the  plan 
for  a  fourth  voyage,  which  is  to 
eclipse  all  former  ones,  ii.  340; 
writes  to  Pope  Alexander  VII., 
ii.  343;  manuscript  copy  of,  ii. 
344;  takes  measures  to  secure 
his  fame  by  placing  it  under  the 
guardianship  of  his  native 
country,  ii.  346;  sails  fi-om 
Cadiz,  ii,  349  ;  arrives  at  Ercillo, 
lb.  ;  at  the  Grand  Canary,  ii. 
350;  at  St.  Domingo,  ii.  351; 
requests  permission  to  shelter 
in  the  harbor,  as  he  Jipprehends 
a  storm,  ii.  353  ;  his  request  re- 
fused ;  a  violent  hurricane  soon 
after  sweeps  the  sea,  in  which 
he  and  his  property  are  pre- 
served, and  several  of  his  bit- 
terest enemies  overwhelmed,  ii. 
855;  encounters  another  storm, 


ii.  358;  discovers  Guanaga,  II. 
359 ;  a  Cacique  comes  on  board 
his  ship  with  a  multitude  of 
articles,  the  produce  of  tho 
country,  ib.\  selects  some  to 
send  them  to  Spain,  ii.  361 ;  if 
witiiin  two  days'  sail  of  Yuca- 
tan, ib. ;  natives  different  fr(mi 
any  he  had  yet  seen,  ii.  363; 
voyages  along  the  coast  oi  Hon- 
duras, ii.  364;  encounters  vio- 
lent storms  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  ii.  365;  voyage  along 
the  Mosquito  shore,  ii.  337 , 
passes  a  cluster  of  islands,  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of 
Lemionares,  ib.  ;  comes  to  an 
island,  to  which  he  gives  the 
name  of  La  Iluerta,  or  the  Gar- 
den, ii.  368;  transactions  at 
Cariari,  ii.  369,  374;  voyage 
along  Costa  Kica,  ii.  375 ;  spec- 
ulations concerning  the  isthmus 
of  Veragua,  ii.  377 ;  discovery 
of  Puerto  Bello,  ii.  382;  dis 
covery  of  E'  Rotrete,  ii.  384; 
disorders  of  his  men  at  thia 
port,  and  the  consequences,  ii. 
385;  rehnquishes  the  further 
prosecution  of  his  voyage  east- 
ward, ii.  387  ;  returns  to  Puerto 
Bello,  ii.  389 ;  encounters  a 
furious  tempest,  ib. ;  is  near 
being  drowned  by  a  water- 
spout, ii.  390;  returns  to  Vera- 
gua, ii.  392;  regards  gold  as 
one  of  the  mystic  treasures,  ii. 
393 ;  is  nearly  being  wrecked 
in  port  li.  395  *  gives  his  name 
to  the  mountains  of  Veragua 
ib.  ;  sends  his  brother  to  explore 
the  country,  ii.  396  ;  which  ap- 
pears to  be  impregnated  with 
gold,  ib.  ;  believes  that  he  has 
reached  one  of  the  most  favored 
ports  of  the  Asiatic  continent, 
ii.  397;  commences  a  settle- 
ment on  the  river  Belen,  ii.  399  ; 
determines  on  returning  to 
Spain  for  reinforcem.ents,  ii. 
400 ;  \?>  stopped  by  discovering 
a  conspirac}^  of  the  natives,  ii. 
404 ;  sends  his  brother  to  sur- 
prise Quibian,  ii.  405  ;  who  ii 
seized,  ii.  406;  and  afterwards 
escapes,  ii.  408  ;  disasters  at  th« 
settlement  stop  his  sailing,  ii. 


612 


INDEX, 


410;  some  of  his  prisoners 
escape,  and  others  destroy 
themselves,  ii.  418;  his  anxiety 
produces  dehrium,  ii.  421;  is 
comforted  by  a  vision,  ih.  ;  the 
settlement  is  abandoned,  and 
the  Spaniards  embark  for  Spain, 
li.  424;  departure  from  the 
coast  of  Yeragua,  ii.  426 ;  sails 
for  Hispaniola,  ih.  ;  arrives  at 
Puerto  Bello,  ii.  427;  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Darien, 
ii.  428  ;  at  the  Queen's  Gardens, 
lb.  ;  encounters  another  violent 
tempest,  ii.  429;  arrives  at 
Cape  Cruz,  ii.  430  ;  at  Jamaica, 
lb. ;  runs  his  ships  on  shore, 
ib, ;  arranges  with  the  natives 
for  supphes  of  provision,  ii.  432 ; 
his  conversation  with  Diego 
Mendez  to  induce  him  to  go  in 
a  canoe  to  St.  Domingo,  ii.  433  ; 
Mendez  offers  to  go,  ib.  ;  Colum- 
bus writes  to  Ovando  for  a  ship 
to  take  I  im  and  his  crew  to 
Hispaniola,  ii.  438 ;  writes  to 
the  sovereigns,  ib. ;  Mendez  em- 
barks, ii.  440 ;  the  Porras  en- 
gage in  a  mutiny,  ii.  443;  the 
mutiny  becomes  general,  ii.  447 ; 
is  confined  by  the  gout,  ib. ; 
rushes  out  to  quell  the  mutiny, 
but  is  borne  back  to  the  cabin 
by  the  few  who  renuun  faithful, 
ii.  449 ;  the  mutineers  embark 
on  board  ten  Indian  canoes,  ii. 
450  ;  provisions  become  exceed- 
ingly scarce,  ii.  454 ;  employs 
a  stratagem  to  obtain  supplies 
from  the  natives,  ii.  457  ;  an- 
other conspiracy  is  formed,  ii. 
460 ;  arrival  of  Diego  de  Esco- 
bar from  Hispaniola  on  a  mis- 
sion from  the  governor,  prom- 
ising that  a  sliip  shall  soon  be 
sent  to  his  relief,  ii.  461;  over- 
tures of  the  admiral  to  the  mu- 
tineers, ii.  473  ;  not  accepted,  ii. 
474  ;  they  send  a  petition  for 
pardon,  ii.  480 ;  it  is  granted, 
ii.  481 ;  two  ships  arrive  from 
Hispaniola,  ib.  ;  departure  of 
Columbus,  ii.  517  ;  arrives  at 
Beata,  ii.  518;  anchors  in  the 
harbor  of  St.  Domingo,  ii.  519 ; 
is  enthusiastic'illy  received  by 
ihe  people,  ib  ;  *.s  grieved  at 


the  desolation  he  sees  every 
where  around  him,  ii.  521 ;  finda 
that  his  interests  iiad  been  dis- 
regarded, ii.  522;  sets  sail  fo2 
Spain,  ii.  524;  encounters  sev- 
eral tempests,  ib.  ;  anchors  in 
the  harbor  of  St.  Lncar,  ii.  525  ; 
finds  all  his  affairs  in  confusion, 
ii  526;  is  compelled  to  live  by 
borrowing,  ii.  527 ;  writes  to 
King  Ferdinand,  ii.  528;  but, 
receiving  unsatisfactory  replies 
would  have  set  out  from  Seville, 
but  is  prevented  by  his  infirm- 
ities, ii.  529;  death  of  Queen 
Isabella,  ii.  533  ;  is  left  to  the 
justice  of  Ferdinand,  ii.  536 ; 
employs  Yespucci,  ii.  537  ;  goes 
with  his  brother  to  court,  then 
held  at  Segovia,  ii.  539 ;  is  re- 
ceived in  a  very  cold  manner 
ii.  540 ;  Don  Diego  de  Daza  is 
appointed  arbitrator  between 
the  king  and  the  admiral,  ii. 
541  ;  his  claims  are  referred  to 
the  Junta  de  Descargos,  ii.  543 ; 
is  confined  with  a  violent  attack 
of  the  gout,  ii.  544 ;  petitions 
the  king  that  his  son  Diego  may 
be  appointed,  in  his  place,  to 
the  government  of  which  .he 
had  been  so  long  deprived,  ib.  ; 
his  petition  remains  unattended 
to,  ib.  ;  writes  to  the  new  King 
and  Queen  of  Castile,  ii.  546  ; 
who  promise  a  speedy  and  pros- 
perous termination  to  his  suit, 
ii.  547 ;  his  last  illness,  ib. ; 
writes  a  testamentary  codicil  on 
the  blank  page  of  a  little  bre- 
viary, ii.  548;  MTites  a  final 
codicil,  ii.  549 ;  receives  the 
sacrament,  ii.  551 ;  dies,  ih.  j 
his  burial ,  ii.  552  ;  his  remains 
removed  to  Hispaniola,  ih.  ; 
disinterred  and  conveyed  to  the 
llavai^a,  ib.  ;  epitaph,  ib.  ;  ob- 
servations on  his  character,  ii. 
554  ;  his  remains  removed  with 
great  ceremony  to  Cuba,  iii. 
339;  reflections  thereon,  iii. 
344;  historical  account  of  his 
descendants,  ib.  ;  an  important 
lawsuit  relative  to  the  heirship 
(in  the  female  line)  to  the  family 
titles  and  property,  iii.  364  j 
decided  in  favor  of  Don  Nun» 


INDEX. 


613 


Oelres  de  Portugallo,  iii.  335  ; 
an  account  of  his  lineage,  iii. 
372  ;  an  account  of  his  birth- 
place, iii.  376  ;  an  account  of 
the  ships  lie  used,  iii.  444 ;  an 
exaniiuation  of  his  route  in  the 
first  voj'age,  iii.  447;  the  effect 
of  the  travels  of  Marco  Polo  on 
his  mind,  iii.  474 ;  his  belief 
in  the  imaginary  island  of  St. 
Brandan,  iii.  501;  an  account 
of  the  earliest  narratives  of  his 
first  and  second  voyages,  iii. 
541 ;  his  ideas  relative  to  the 
situfitinn  of  the  terrestrial  par- 
adise, iii.  557  :  his  will,  iii.  559 ; 
his  signature,  iii.  572. 
Jolunibus,  Don  Diego,  character 
of,  i.  401 ;  intrusted  with  the 
command  of  the  ships  during 
the  expedition  of  Columbus  to 
the  mountains  of  Cibao,  ib.  ; 
made  president  of  the  junta,  i. 
443 ;  reproves  Pedro  Margarite 
for  his  irregularities,  ii.  12  ;  the 
Hidalgos  form  a  faction  against 
him  during  the  absence  of  his 
brother,  ii.  13;  returns  to  Isa- 
bella, ii.  65 ;  a  conspiracy  formed 
against  him  by  Roldan,  ii.  179; 
left  in  command  at  St.  Domingo, 
during  the  tour  of  Columbus,  ii 
234  ;  his  conduct  on  the  arrival 
of  Bobadilla,  ii.  283 ;  seized  by 
order  of  Bobadilla,  thrown  in 
irons,  and  confined  on  board  of 
a  caravel,  ii.  295 ;  settles  the 
dispute  relative  to  Jamaica,  iii. 
75;  appointed  governor  of  St. 
Domingo,  iii.  310;  refuses  to 
put  Sotomayor  in  possession  of 
Boriquen,  ib.]  appoints  Juan 
Ceron,  ib. 

 ,  Don  Diego,  (son  to  Chris- 
topher,)appointed  page  to  Queen 
Isabella,  ii.  107;  embarks  with 
his  father  on  his  second  expedi- 
tion, i.  339  ;  left  in  charge  of  his 
father's  interests  in  Spain,  ii. 
346  ;  his  ingratitude  to  Mendez, 
and  falsification  of  his  promise, 
ii.  482 ;  his  character,  iii.  344 ; 
succeeds  to  the  rights  of  his 
father,  as  viceroy  and  governor 
of  the  New  World,  ib. ;  urges 
the  king  to  give  him  those 
rights,  iii.  345 ;  commences  a 


process  against  the  king  before 
the  counci.  of  the  Indies,  iii. 
346;  tlie  defense  set  up,  ib.] 
the  suit  lasts  several  years,  iii. 
347;  becomes  enamored  of 
Dona  Maria  Toledo,  ib.  ;  a 
decision  in  respect  to  part  of 
his  claim,  raises  him  to  great 
wealth,  ib.  ;  marries  Dona 
Maria,  niece  to  the  Duke  of 
Alva,  ib. ;  through  this  con- 
nection he  obtains  the  dig- 
nities and  powers  enjoyed  by 
Nicholas  de  Ovando,  iii.  348; 
embarks  for  Hispaniola,  iii.  349 ; 
keeps  up  great  state,  ib. ;  be- 
comes embroiled  with  some  of 
his  father-s  enemies,  iii.  351 ; 
the  court,  of  royal  audience 
established  as  a  check  upon 
him,  iii.  352  ;  opposes  the  repar- 
timientos.  ib.  ;  his  virtues  make 
him  unpopular,  ib.  ;  subju- 
gates and  settles  the  island 
of  Cuba  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  man,  iii.  352;  sails 
for  Spain  to  vindicate  his  con- 
duct, iii.  354  ;  is  well  received, 
ib.  ;  the  death  of  Ferdinand, 
iii.  356 ;  obtains  a  recognition 
of  his  innocence  of  all  charges 
against  him  from  Charles  V., 
ib.  ;  and  has  his  right  ac- 
knowledged to  exercise  the 
office  of  viceroy  and  governor  in 
all  places  discovered  by  his 
father,  ib. ;  sails  for  St.  Do- 
mingo, where  he  arrives,  iii 
357;  difficulties  he  has  to  en 
encounter,  ib. ;  African  slaves 
having  been  introduced  and 
most  cruelly  used,  they  revolt, 
ib. ;  are  subdued,  iii.  358 ;  is 
accused  of  usurping  too  much 
power,  iii.  359  ;  receives  in  con- 
sequence a  severe  letter  from 
the  council  of  the  Indies,  ib. ; 
and  is  desired  to  repair  to  court 
to  vindicate  himself,  ib. ;  sails, 
lands,  and  appears  before  the 
court  at  Victoria,  ib.  ;  clears 
himself,  iii.  360  ;  prosecutes  his 
claims,  ib.  ;  follows  the  court 
from  city  to  city ,  ;  is  attacked 
by  a  slow  fever,  dies,  iii 
361 ;  his  family,  it 


614 


INDEX. 


uolurabua,  Fernanao,  (son  to 
Christopher,)  accompanies  his 
father  on  his  fourth  voyage,  ii. 
849;  his  father's  encomium  on 
him,  ii.  536;  embarks  for  Ilis- 
paniola  with  Don  Diego,  iii.  349  ; 
an  account  of  him,  iii.  367; 
writes  a  history'  of  his  father, 
iii.  359 

— - — ,  Don  Luis,  (son  to  Don 
Diego),  prosecutes  the  claims  of 
his  father  and  grandfather,  iii. 

;  compromises  all  claims  for 
two  titles  and  a  pension,  ib. ; 
dies,  ib 

Comargre,  Cacique  of,  his  dwell- 
ing, iii,  187;  advice  of  to  the 
Spaniards  on  their  quarrel  about 
the  gold,  iii.  169;  baptized  as 
Don  Carlos,  iii. 171 ;  gives  Nunez 
4000  ounces  of  gold  and  sixty 
slaves,  iii.  169 ;  beverage  made 
from  maize,  &c.,  iii.  168;  pre- 
served bodies,  ib. 

Commerce,  despotic  influence  of 
the  Spanish  crown  in  respect 
to,  i.  317,  ii.  317. 

Compass,  the,  brought  into  more 
general  use,  i.  29. 

Conception,  Santa  Maria  de  la, 
discovery  of,  i.  179. 

 ,  Fort,  erected  by  Colum- 
bus, ii.  27 ;  present  state  of,  ii. 
186; 

Contradictions,  the  coast  of,  ii. 
392. 

Convicts  who  had  accompanied 

Columbus,  conduct  of,  in  His- 

paniola,  ii.  325. 
vopper  hatchets  seen  among  the 

Iiidians  of  Guanaca,  ii.  360. 
Coral  found  in  Veraguay  ii.  380. 
Cormorants,  large  flights  of,  seen 

on  the  south  coast  of  Cuba.  i. 

474. 

Coronel,  Pedro  Fernandez,  sails 
for  Ilayti  with  two  ships,  ii. 
107;  arrives  at  St.  Domingo 
with  supplies,  ii.  196 ;  is  sent 
to  persuade  lloldan  to  return  to 
his  duty,  ib. 

Oorral,  Bachelor,  overhears  threats 
made  by  Nicuesa  and  hastens 
back  to  Darieu,  iii.  150;  takes 
part  in  the  faction  at  Darien, 
and  assumes  -command  with 
Perez,  iii.  186 


Correo,  Pedro,  a  navigator  of  nc  t4 
with  whom  Columbus  becomei 
acquainted,  i.  37. 

Cortez,  Hernando,  conduct  of 
Fonseca  to,  iii.  550. 

Costa  Rica,  Columbus  sails  along 
the,  ii.  375. 

Cotabanama,  Cacique  of  Higuey, 
ii.  11 ;  massacres  eight  Span- 
iards, ii.  502 ;  Ovando  marches 
against  him,  ib. ;  sues  for 
peace,  ii.  503 ;  visits  the  Span- 
ish camp,  ii.  504  ;  another  war 
ensues,  io. ;  cruelty  to  his 
tribe,  ii.  510;  takes  shelter  with 
his  wife  and  children  in  a  large 
cavern,  ii.  512  ;  his  rencounter 
with  Juan  Lopez,  ib.  ;  is  over- 
powered and  chained,  ii.  513; 
sent  to  St.  Domingo  and  hanged, 
ii.  514. 

Cotton,  where  first  seen  in  the 
western  hemisphere,  i.  174 ; 
seen  in  large  quantities  in  Cuba, 
i.  203;  tribute  of,  ii.  48. 

Cranes,  flocks  of  large,  seen  in 
Cuba,  i.  471. 

Creation,  ideas  in  respect  to  the, 
entertained  by  the  Haytiens,  i. 
421. 

Crocodiles  found  at  El  Retrete 
similar  to  those  of  the  Nile,  ii. 
384. 

Crosses  erected  by  Columbus  to 
denote  his  discoveries,  i.  483. 

Crusade  to  recover  the  holy  sepul 
chre  proposed  by  Columbus,  ii 
334. 

Cruz,  Cabo  de  la,  so  named  by 
Columbus,  i.  458. 

 ,  Santa,  settled,  iii.  61. 

Cuba,  island  of,  Columbus  hears 
of,  i.  186 ;  sails  in  quest  of  it,  i. 
188;  discovery  of,  i.  189;  de- 
scription of  its  appearance, 
ib. ;  hurricanes  seldom  known 
in,  i.  193;  belief  of  the  inhabi- 
tants in  a  future  state,  i.  206; 
Columbus  revisits  the  coasts  of, 
i.  458 ;  natives  of,  i.  461 ;  Co- 
lumbus coasts  along  the  south- 
ern side,  i.  465 ;  natives,  ib. ; 
subjugated  and  settled  by  Don 
Diego  Columbus,  iii.  354;  the 
remains  of  Columbus  removed 
to,  iii.  339. 

Cubagua.  Isle  of,  discovery  of,  U. 


INDEX. 


615 


137;  natives,  ib.  ;  pearl  fisheries 
oil  tbie  coast  of,  established, 
iii.  354. 

Cubiga,  a  village  in  Veragua 
where  the  country  of  gold  was 
supported  to  terminate,  ii.  379. 

Cucuaib3rs  first  seen  in  Hayti,  i. 
431. 

Cueybas,  Cacique  of  Cuba,  anec- 
dote of,  iii.  107. 

durrency,  principles  on  which  the 
sums  mentioned  in  this  work 
have  been  reduced  to  modern 
currency,  iii.  380. 


D. 

Dances  of  the  Ilaytiens,  i.  425. 

Darien,  gold  taken  at,  iii.  145; 
name  of,  changed  to  Santa 
Maria,  ib.\  faction  at,  iii.  146 ; 
Zemaco,  Cacique  of,  iii.  144 ; 
further  factions  at,  iii,  159, 184  ; 
plot  of  Zemaco  to  destroy,  iii. 
180;  lawyers  not  admitted  in 
the  colony,  iii.  229 ;  Martyr's 
account  of,  iii.  231;  malady  at, 
iii.  241 ;  famine  at,  ib. ;  .700 
perish,  iii.  242  ;  alarm  at,  con- 
cerning the  Indians,  iii.  263. 

Da  Vila,  Arias  Don  Pedro,  sent  as 
new  governor  to  the  Colony  of 
Darieu,  iii.  225;  his  character, 
ib. ;  advocated  by  Fonseca,  iii. 
226;  arrives  at  Darien,  iii.  234; 
sends  messengers  to  Nunez,  ib.  ; 
falls  sick,  iii.  241 ;  jealousy  of, 
iii.  250;  the  daughter  of, 
offered  in  marriage  to  Nunez, 
iii.  265;  Sosa  sent  from  Spain  to 
supersede,  iii.  272 ;  difficulties 
between  Nunez  and  Davila  re- 
newed, iii.  274;  Arguello,  friend 
of  Nunez,  arrested,  iii.  275  ;  hy- 
pocrisy of,  iii.  279 ;  orders 
Nunez  to  be  executed,  iii.  282. 

Dead  and  dying,  manner  of  ti-eat- 
iug  the,  by  the  Ilaytiens,  i. 
423. 

Delphin,  island  of,  ii.  135. 

Deluge,  universal,  ideas  enter- 
tained by  the  Haytiens  in 
respect  to,  i.  422. 

Deza,  Diego  de,  character  of,  i. 
92 ;  coincides  with  Columbus 
at  the  council  of  Salamanca,  i. 


92 ;  assists  him  with  liis  purse, 

i.  101;  made  archbishop  of  Se- 
ville, ii.  537;  is  chosen  arbitra- 
tor between  the  king  and  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  541. 

Diaz,  Bartholomew,  account  of 

hi^t  discoveries,  ii.  2. 
 ,  Miguel,  his  romantic  history, 

ii.  73,  discovers  the  gold  mines 
of  Hayna,  ii.  74  ;  comniand3 
the  fortress  of  St.  Domingo  at 
the  time  Bobadilla  arrives,  ii. 
286;  his  conduct  on  being 
desired  to  give  up  his  prisoners, 
ii.  286. 

 ,  de  Pisa,  mutiny  of,  i.  397; 

confined  on  board  of  one  of  the 

ships,  i.  399. 
Disaster,  river  of,  ii.  338. 
Discovery,    progress    of,  under 

prince  Henry  of  Portugal,  i. 

25. 

Dobayba,  account  of  the  golden 

temple  at,  iii.  173,  183. 
Dogs,   dumb,   found   at  Sant? 

Marta,  i.  461. 
Domingo,  San,  foundation  of  the 

city  of,  ii.  155. 
Dominica,  island  of,  discovered,  i. 

344. 

Doves,  stock,  presented  to  Co- 
lumbus by  the  natives  of  Cuba, 
i.  463. 

Drogeo,  a  vast  country,  fabled  to 
have  been  discovered  by  some 
fishermen  of  Friseland,  iii.  437. 

Drum,  a  species  of,  used  by  the 
Ilaytiens,  i.  420. 

Dying,  manner  of  treating  the,  i. 
423. 

E. 

Ear,  coast  of  the,  ii.  364. 

Eden,  garden  of,  speculation  of 

Columbus  in  respect   to,  iii. 

443. 

Egg,  anecdote  of  the,  i.  307. 
Egypt,  soldan  of,  his  message  to 

Ferdinand,  i.  99. 
Elmo,  St.,  electrical  light  seen  by 

Columbus,  i.  342 
Enchanters,  the  natives  of  CariaH 

taken  to  be,  ii.  372. 
Enciso,  Martin  Fernandez  de,  ap« 

pointed  alcalde  by  Ojeda,  iii, 

72;   expedition   of,   iii.  131 J 


616 


INDEX. 


touches  at  Oarthagena,  iii.  133  ; 
magnanimous  conduct  of  the 
Indians,  iii.  135 ;  crusade 
against  the  sepulchres  of  Zenu, 
iii  138 ;  sacks  them  for  gold, 
iii.  139;  his  landing  opposed  ; 
reads  formula  to  the  natives, 
ib.]  attacks  them,  iii.  140; 
returns  to  San  Sebastian,  iii. 
142;  vessel  strikes  on  a  Tock, 
ib.]  vow  made  by,  iii.  144;  es- 
tablishes the  seat  of  government 
at  Darien,  iii.  145;  difficulty 
with  Nunez  iii.  159;  im- 
prisoned, iii.  160;  returns  to 
Spain,  represents  Nunez  as 
governing  the  colony  by  force 
and  fraud,  iii.  225. 

English  voyagers,  Ojeda's  mention 
of,  iii.  33. 

Enriquez,  Beatrix,  her  connection 
with  Columbus,  i.  80 ;  Colum- 
bus's legacy  to,  ii.  550. 

Escobar,  Diego  de,  arrives  at  Ja- 
maica on  a  mission  to  Colum- 
bus from  the  governor  of  Ilis- 
paniola,  ii.  460;  returns  to  his 
ship  immediately,  ii.  461. 

 ,  Rodrigo  de,  chief  notary 

to  Columbus's  first  expedition, 

i.  130. 

Escobebo,  Rodrigo  de,  his  conduct 
after  the  departure  of  Colum- 
bus, i.  369 ;  death  of,  370. 

Espinal,  Antonio  de,  the  first 
prelate  sent  to  the  New  World, 

ii.  328. 

Espinosa,  Gaspar  de,  judicial 
affairs  of  the  colony  of  Darien 
confided  to,  iii.  229 ;  takes  part 
against  Nunez  in  his  contro- 
Tersy  with  Davilla,  iii.  250; 
gives  verdict  against  Nunez,  iii. 
282. 

Esquibel,  Juan  de,  employed 
against  the  natives  of  lliguey, 

ii.  504;  his  atrocious  conduct 
to  his  prisoners,  ii.  509,  511, 
causes  the  natives  to  be  hunted 
like  wild  beasts,  ib. ;  sent  to  Ja- 
maica to  take  command,  iii.  75 ; 
difficulty  with  Ojeda,  ib. 

Estotiland,  a  supposed  island  on 
the  coast  of  North  America, 
said  to  have  been  discovered  by 
eome  fishermen  of  Friseland, 

iii.  407. 


Eudoxus,  remarks  cn  his  voyage, 
iii.  440. 

Evangelista ,  island  of,  discovered 
by  Columbus,  i.  480. 

Exuma,  discovery  of,  i.  182  j 
named  Fernandina  by  Colum- 
bus, i.  181. 

F 

Famine  at  Darien,  in  which  700 
perish,  iii.  242. 

Farol,  Cape,  at  Jamaica,  i.  492. 

Ferdinand,  lung  of  Aragon  and 
Castile,  character  of,  i.  73 ;  en- 
gagements of,  on  the  arrival  of 
Columbus  at  Cordova,  i.  78; 
lays  seige  to  the  city  of  Loxa,  i 
79-;  grants  an  audience  to  Co- 
lumbus, i.  81 ;  desires  the  prioi 
of  Prado  to  assemble  men  of 
science  to  consider  his  plan,  i. 
82;  attempt  to  assassinate  him, 
i.  96;  takes  Malaga,  ib.\  forma 
an  alliance  with  Henry  VII.  of 
England,  i.  97  ;  one  of  the  rival 
kings  of  Grenada  surrenders  his 
pretensions,  i.  99;  receives  a 
message  from  the  soldan  of 
Egypt,  ib. ;  his  message  to  Co- 
lumbus on  learning  the  un- 
favorable decision  of  the  council, 
i.  103 ;  refers  his  plan  to  persons 
of  confidence,  i.  112  ;  his  reluc- 
tance to  the  plan  after  the 
queen  has  consented,  i.  118  ;  his 
joy  on  learning  the  success  of 
Columbus,  i.  296;  his  reception 
of  him,  i.  298;  prepares  a 
second  expedition,  i.  315 ;  his 
negotiations  with  John  II.  in 
respect  to  the  new  discoveries, 

i.  322 ;  listens  to  the  chargea 
against  Columbus,  ii.  57;  his 
conduct,  ib.  ;  his  reception  of 
Columbus  on  his  second  return, 

ii.  92 ;  lays  the  foundation  of 
the  power  of  Charles  V.,  ii.  93; 
promises  Columbus  to  fu?nish 
him  with  ships  for  a  third  voy- 
age,  ib. ;  disappointed  that  hia 
newly  discovered  possessions 
have  not  become  a  source  of 
profit,  ii.  272;  assaulted  by  thu 
clamors  of  ruffians  who  had 
returned  from  Ilispaniola,  ih. ; 
his  ingratitude  to  Colnmbui 


INDEX. 


Decomes  evident,  ii.  273  ;  listens 
to  the  rebels  who  had  been  per- 
Diitted  to  return  to  Spain,  ii. 
275  ;  Trends  out  a  commission  to 
inquire  into  the  conduct  of  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  27G  ;  reprobates  the 
conduct  pursued  against  (;!o- 
lumbus,  and  invites  him  to 
court,  ii.  299 ;  promises  to 
restore  him  to  all  his  riglits  and 
privileges,  ii.  306;  his  jealousy 
awakened  at  the  discoveries  of 
the  English  and  Portuguese,  ii. 
320;  his  ingratitude  to  Colum- 
bus, ii.  321 ;  listens  to  the 
project  of  Columbus  for  a 
fourth  voyage,  ii.  341;  his  in- 
gratitude more  evinced  on  the 
return  of  Columbus  from  his 
last  voyage,  ii.  533,  540,  544 ; 
erects  a  monument  over  Colum- 
bus, ii.  552 ;  cupidity  of,  iii.  66  ; 
favors  the  projects  of  both 
Nicuesa  and  Ojeda,  iii.  69; 
receives  Cayzedo  and  Colmen- 
ares,  iii.  226;  orders  an  expe- 
dition to  scour  the  islands  of 
the  Caribs,  iii.  332;  his  conduct 
to  Don  Diego,  Columbus's  son, 
iii.  345;  consents  that  Don 
Diego  should  commence  a 
process  against  him  before  the 
council  of  the  Indies,  iii.  347 ; 
the  delense  set  up,  ih.  ;  sepa- 
rates the  Isthmus  of  Darien 
into  two  great  provinces,  iii. 
350;  death,  iii.  360. 
Hernandez,  Gracia,  physician  of  ^ 
Palos,  his  account  of  Columbus 
at  the  gate  of  the  convent  on 
his  first  arrival  in  Spain,  i.  104  ; 
testimony  of,  relative  to  Pinzon, 
iii.  421. 

Ferrer,  Jayme,  an  eminent  lap- 
idary, substance  of  his  letter  to 
Columbus,  ii.  339. 

Festival,  religious,  of  a  Haytien 
Cacique,  description  of,  i.  425. 

fevers,  the  aborigines'  mode  of 
treating,  iii.  26. 

fiesco,  Bartholomew,  embarks 
with  Mendez  from  Jamaica  to 
Hispaniola,  ii.  441 ;  attends  the 
last  moments  of  Columbus,  ii. 
551. 

Fish,  curious,  i.  494. 

^'ishing,  curious  method  of.  i.  462. 


Florida  discovered,  iii.  328. 

Fonseca,  Juan  Kodrigaez  Je, 
appointed  supiniiitoudcut  of 
Indian  airairs,  i  315;  his  char- 
ac  er,  /6. ;  his  (liiTei  eiice  with 
Columbus,  i.  333;  impedes  the 
affairs  of  Columbus,  ii.  107  ; 
writes  a  cold  letter  to  Colum- 
bus, by  order  of  the  sovereigns^ 
ii.  236;  sliows  Columbus'i? 
letter  to  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  ii. 
251 ;  his  baseness  full3>  dis 
played,  ib.  ;  supposed  to  have 
instigated  the  violent  measures 
of  Bobadilla.  ii.  302;  throws 
impediments  in  the  way  of  Co* 
lum  bus's  fourth  voyage,  ii, 
345;  recommends  the  projecfc 
of  Ojeda  to  Ferdinand,  iii.  68; 
supposed  to  have  been  the 
cause  of  Ovando's  disgrace,  iii. 
849 ;  by  order  of  Ferdinand, 
establishes  a  court,  called  the 
Royal  Audience,  iii.  352;  be- 
comes interested  in  continuing 
the  slave  tnide,  iii.  520 ;  his 
opposition  to  Las  Casas,  iii. 
416 ;  an  account  of,  iii.  545 ; 
character  of,  iii.  546  ;  his  con- 
duct to  Cortez,  iii.  548  ;  accused 
of  having  fomented  a  conspi- 
racy to  assassinate  Cortez,  iii. 
550. 

Fountain  of  pure  water  in  the  sea, 
ii.  469. 

Fountain,  rejuvenating  w^aters  of 
a,  at  Bimini,  iii.  325. 

Franciscans,  the  order  first  intro- 
duced into  the  New  World,  ii. 
328. 

Friars,  Jeronimite,  sent  to  the 
colonies  to  remedy  abuses,  iii 
275. 

Fuego,  del,  island  of,  seen  by  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  116. 

Fulvia,  reveals  the  plot  of  Zemact 
to  Nuinez,  iii.  180. 


G. 

Galleys,  Venetian,  capture  of,  by 
Colombo  the  younger,  iii.  392. 

Gama  Vasquez  de,  doubles  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  opens 
a  new  road  for  the  trade  of  tbf 
East  ii.  316. 


618 


INDEX, 


Garabito  Andres,  sent  by  Nunez 
to  Cuba,  to  enlist  men  for  an  ex- 
pedition, iii.  243;  arrives  from, 
iii.  252;  sent  to  Ada  to  recon- 
noitre, iii.  273;  his  difficulty 
with  Nunez,  ib. ;  seizure  of, 
iii.  274;  trial  of,  iii.  282;  set  at 
liberty,  ih. 

Garcia  de  Barrantes,  his  conduct 
during  the  conspiracy  of  llol- 
dan,  ii.  185. 

Qardeus,  the,  coast  so  called,  ii. 
129. 

 J  Kii.g's  islands,  i.  209. 

 ,  Queen's  islands  of,  i.  240. 

 ,  the  Hesperian,  observa- 
tions in  respect  to,  iii.  553. 
Gato  Paulo,  a  species  of  n;onkey, 

ii.  135. 

Genoa,  Columbus  shows  great  re- 
spect to,  ii.  101. 

Gentlemen,  the  pass  of,  a  road  so 
•jailed,  i.'403. 

9eraldini,  Alexandria  and  An- 
tonio, warmly  enter  into  the 
views  of  Columbus,  i.  80 ;  they 
introduce  him  to  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  ib. 

Gnats,  clouds  of,  seen  by  Nunez 
in  his  expedition  to  Dobayba, 

iii.  246. 

3;ld  (Western),  discovered  first 
in  St.  Salvador,  i.  174;  speci- 
Snens  of  virgin  ore  found  in  the 
interior  of  Ilispaniola,  i.  389 ; 
particles  found  in  the  streams, 
i.  409;  and  pieces,  i.  412. 

Gold,  of  the  temple,  procured  by 
Solomon,  iii.  66;  spoils  found 
at  Carthagena,  in  the  moun- 
tains and  rivers  of  Zenu,  iii. 
188  ;  taken  in  nets,  ib. ;  taken 
at  Darien,  iii.  143. 

— — ,  tribute  of,  ii.  49. 

—  mine  discovered  in  Hayti,  ii. 
74 ;  a  solid  mass  of,  which 
weighed  3600  castellanos,  ii. 
352;  superstitious  notions  in 
tespect  to,  ii.  393;  gathered 
from  the  roots  of  the  trees  in 
Veraguay,  ii.  396. 

Golden  Castile,  iii.  227. 

Q olden  River,  arrival  at,  in  second 
voyage,  i.  381,  407. 

Gods  of  the  Ilaytiens,  i.  418. 

Uomara,  Fernando  Lope^.  de,  ex- 
amination of  his  charge  relative 


to  a  pilot's  having  died  Sn  fehi 
house  of  Columbus,  iii.  423. 

Gonzalez,  Juan,  attacked  by  tha 
Indians  and  escapes,  iii.  317 

Gorvalan  explores  part  of  the  in- 
terior of  Ilispaniola,  i.  391 ; 
returns  to  Spain,  ib. 

Gourds  introduced  into  Hayti,  i. 
431. 

Gracias  a  Dios,  cape  of,  ii.  366. 

 .  colony  cf,  assigned 

to  Nicuesa,'iii,  70.' 

Grenada,  discovery  of,  ii.  137 

Grape-vines,  very  luxuriant, 
found  in  Cuba,  i.  471. 

Greenland,  assertions  relative  to 
its  discovery  by  the  Scandina- 
vians, iii.  432. 

Grenada,  surrender  of,  i.  110. 

Guadaloupe,  island  of,  discovered, 
i.  344;  houses,  furniture,  &c., 
of  the  natives,  i.  346  ;  supposed 
to  be  cannibals,  i.  347  ;  descrip- 
tion of  the  island,  ib. ;  Columbua 
revisits  it,  ii.  81;  women  of,  ii. 
82,  83. 

Guacanagari,  Cacique  of  Ilispan- 
iola, sends  a  message  to  CoJ^m- 
bus,  i.  227;  receives  the  Span- 
iards with  great  courtesy,  i. 
228 ;  sheds  tears  on  learning 
the  shipwreck  of  Columbus,  i. 
233 ;  his  assistance,  ib. ;  and 
kindness,  i.  235  ;  invites  Colum- 
bus to  his  residence,  i.  236; 
manners  of,  i.  237;  hospitality, 
i.  246;  procures  a  great  quan- 
tity of  gold  for  the  admiral 
previous  to  his  departure  for 
Spain,  i.  247 ;  sends  his  cousin 
to  greet  Columbus  on  hia 
second  arrival,  i.363;  his  sus- 
picious conduct  during  the  dis- 
aster  at  La  Navidad,  i.  370; 
visits  Columbus's  ships,  i.  376; 
admires  a  captive  Carib  woman, 
i.  377 ;  his  flight  into  the  in- 
terior, i.  380 :  his  mysterious 
conduct  continued,  i.  447; 
refuses  to  partake  in  the  plan 
formed  by  Caonabo,  of  exter- 
minating the  Spaniards,  ii.  22; 
incurs  the  hostility  of  hia 
fellow  Caciques,  ib. ;  visits  Co 
lunibus  during  his  sickness 
and  informs  him  of  a  leaguf 
formed  against   bim,  ii.  24; 


INDEX. 


619 


asHists  Colmnbu?  in  his  expe- 
dition against  the  Jndiany  of 
the  Vega,  ii.  42;  is  prcjsent  at  a 
battle,  ii.  45  ;  incurs  the  hatred 
of  all  the  Caciques,  ib, ;  is  never- 
theless compelled  to  pay  tribute, 
ii  45  ;  takes  refuge  in  the  moun- 
tains and  dies  in  misery,  ii.  54  ; 
his  character,  ib. 
3  aana,  regarded  with  disgust  by 
the  Spaniards,  i.  449;  they 
conquer  their  prejudice,  ii. 
159. 

3uanaja,  discovery  of,  ii.  359, 
8uaora,  Cacique,  hunted  like  a 
wild  beast  and  afterwards 
hanged,  ii.  499. 
Quarionex,  Cacique  of  the  royal 
Vega,  ii.  9 ;  visits  Columbus, 
and  is  prevailed  on  to  give  his 
daughter  to  Diego  Colon,  the 
interpreter,  ii.  26;  permits  Co- 
lumbus to  build  a  fortress,  ii. 
27;  character  of,  ii.  46;  submits 
to  the  domination  of  the  Span- 
iards, ii.  47  ;  compelled  to  pay 
tribute,  ii.  48  ;  offers  to  cultivate 
grain,  ii.  49 ;  refused,  ii.  54 ; 
learns  the  Paternoster,  Ave- 
Maria,  &c.,  ii.  167;  relapses, 
and  the  cause  of  it,  ib. ;  becomes 
incensed  at  several  Indians 
being  burnt  for  destroying 
some  images,  ib. ;  takes  arms, 
ii.  168  ;  conspires  to  assassinate 
the  Spaniards,  ii.  169;  is 
seized,  ii.  171 ;  is  pardoned,  ib.  ; 
enters  into  a  conspiracy  with 
Roldan  against  the  Adelantado, 

ii.  198  ;  puts  a  Cacique  to  death, 
ib.  ;  flies  to  the  mountains  of 
Ciguay,  ii.  199;  is  compelled  to 
retire  into  the  most  desolate 
places,  ii.  202;  is  seized  and 
taken  in  chains  to  Fort  Con- 
ception, ii.  208  :  lost  in  a  hurri- 
cane, ii.  857. 

Euatiquana,  a  Cacique  of  Ilayti, 
puts  ten  Spaniards  to  death, 
and  sets  fire  to  a  house,  ii.  17. 

^uerra  (Christoval),  expedition  of, 

iii.  37;  lands  at  the  Gulf  of 
Paria,  iii.  38;  fights  with  the 
Caribs,  iii.  39  ;  visits  Margarita, 
ib.\  returns  to  Spain,  iii.  41; 
imprisoned,  iii.  42. 

Qu'?rrero,  Gonzalo,  taken  prisoner 


and  marries  an  Indian  princeES. 
iii.  289 ;  adopts  the  customs  oi 
the  Indians,  and  is  tattooed,  iii. 
297. 

Guevara,  Don  Hernando  de,  falh 
in  love  with  Iliguamota,  ii.  262  ; 
is  seized  in  the  dwelling  of  An- 
acaona,  ii.  263;  and  sent  to  San 
Domingo,  ii.  264. 

Gulf  Stream,  ii.  139. 

Gutierrez,  Pedro,  his  ccnduot 
after  the  departure  of  Column 
bus,  i.  369 :  death  of,  i.  370 


H. 

Hamacs,  used  by  the  natives  of 

Exuma,  i.  182. 
Ilanno,  remarks  on  the  Periplus 

of,  iii.  441. 
Haro,  Bernaldo  de,  his  evidence 

relative  to  the  discovery  of  the 

coast  of  Paria  by  Columbus, 

iii.  410. 

Harpies,  seen  near  Dobayba,  iii 
246. 

Hatchets  of  iron ,  said  to  be  found 

at  Guadaloupe,.ii.  82. 
Hawk's  bells,  delight  of  the  Hay- 

tiens  on  wearing,  i.  236,  240. 
Hayna,  mines  of,  discovered,  ii. 

73. 

Henry,  prince  of  Portugal,  prog- 
ress of  discovery  under,  i.  24; 
account  of,  i.  25 ;  considers 
Africa  to  be  circumnavigable. 
i.  26 ;  conceives  the  idea  ot 
turning  the  trade  of  the  East, 
i.  27  ;  establishes  a  naval  col- 
lege at  Sagres,  i.  29;  death,  i. 
30. 

Henry  VII.  of  England,  writes  9 
favorable  letter  to  Columbus,  i, 
97. 

Herbs,  European,  introduced  ib 

Hispaniola,  i.  431. 
Herrera,  Antouia  de,  a  short  ac 

count  of  his  life  and  writings 

iii.  543;  Vossius's  eulogium  on 

iii.  544. 

IIerr.era,  Don  Lepo  de,.  his  mia. 
sion  to  the  court  of  Lisbon,  i 
328. 

Hayti  (see  Hispaniola)  disco 7erJ 

of,  i.  215. 
Haytiens,   description    of  thefl 


620 


INDEX. 


manners,  customs,  religion, 
&c.,  i.  420  ;  their  character,  i. 
427 ;  defeated  in  the  battle  of 
the  Vega,ii.  43-45  :  subjugated, 
ii.  46;  a  tribute  imposed  upon 
them,  ii.  48  ;  their  despair,  ii. 
51  ;  they  enter  into  an  associa- 
tion to  destroy  the  crops,  ii.  52  ; 
the  evils  fall  upon  themselves, 
ii.  53. 

Hidalgos,  compelled  at  Ilayti  to 
share  the  common  labors  of  the 
settlement,  i.  435;  character  of 
the,  ib.  ;  form  a  faction  against 
Diego  Columbus,  during  the  ab- 
sence of  his  brother,  ii.  13. 

Uiguamota,  daughter  of  Caonabo, 
falls  in  love  with  Don  Hernando 
de  Guevara,  ii.  262. 

Higuanama,  a  female  Cacique, 
hanged  by  order  of  Ovando,  ii. 
603. 

Higuey,  domain  of,  ii.  10  ;  char- 
acter of  its  inhabitants,  ii.  11 ; 
Ovando's  war  with  the  natives, 
ii.  501 ;  martial  character  of  the 
people,  ib,  ;  multitudes  of  them 
destroyed,  ii.  503  ;  sue  for  peace, 
i^.  ;  again  revolt,  ii.  504:  and 
slaughter  their  tyrants,  ib.  ;  sit- 
uation of  their  towns,  ii.  505  ; 
are  defeated  and  .compelled  to 
conceal  ihemselves  in  the  fast- 
nesses, ii.  506;  are  hunted  like 
wild  beasts,  ii.  507. 

Ilipparchus,  error  of,  in  respect 
of  Africa  and  India,  iii.  443. 

Uispaniola,  discovery  of,  i.  214 ; 
cause  of  its  being  so  called,  i. 
216  ;  description  of  the  inhab- 
itants, 1.  218  ;  of  the  country, 
i.  223 ;  transactions  with  the 
natives,  i.  235  ;  form  of  govern- 
ment, i.  237  ;  alarm  created  by 
a  discharge  of  cannon,  i.  238  ; 
general  description  of,  i.  417- 
430  ;  domains  into  which  it  was 
divided,  ii.  9 ;  made  the  me- 
tropolis of  the  New  World,  ii. 
16 ;  thought  to  have  been  the 
ancient  Ophir,  ii.  77 ;  an  ac- 
count of  the  numbers  of  the 
natives  who  perished,  victims  to 
the  avarice  of  the  whites,  ii. 
489 :  ceded  to  the  French,  iii. 
339. 

Sonduras,  Cape  of,  discovered  by 


Columbus,  ii  363  ,  inhabitants 

ib. 

Honey  and  wax  found  at  Guada* 
loupe,  i.  350  ;  ii.  83. 

Horses,  fear  of  the  llaytiens  of,  i. 
432,  443;  terror  inspired  by 
them  at  the  battle  of  the  Vega, 
ii.  44  ;  a  remarkable  one  which 
moved  in  curvets  to  the  music 
of  a  viol,  ii.  495;  killed  and 
salted  for  sea  stores,  iii.  137  j 
a  horse  drawn  into  the  river  by 
an  alligator,  iii.  91. 

Houses  built  in  the  trees,  iii.  176. 

Huelva.  Alonzo  Sanchez  de,  the 
pilot,  fabled  to  have  died  in  the 
house  of  Columbus,  iii.  422. 

Iluerta,  La,  delightful  island  ol 
ii.  338  ;  inhabitants  of,  ii.  369. 

Humboldt,  his  account  of  tiie 
present  condition  of  the  south- 
ern side  of  Cuba,  i.  466  ;  ac- 
count of  the  route  of  Colum- 
bus, iii.  468. 

Ilurtado,  Bartolome,  disaster  of, 
at  the  Black  Rivei,  iii.  179  ;  sent 
to  take  the  place  of  Nunez,  in 
the  expedition  to  the  South 
Seas,  iii.  279. 

Hurricanes,  seldom  known  in 
Cuba,  i.  193  ;  a  violent  one  in 
Hayti,  ii.  70  ;  reflections  of  tha 
Haytiens  previous  to  it,  ii.  69; 
severe  one  at  Dobayba,  iii.  246. 


I. 

Iceland,  Columbus  supposed  to 
have  visited,  i.  56 :  assertions 
relative  to  its  discovery  by  the 
Scandinavians,  iii.  432. 

Impressment  resorted  to  on  Co 
lumbus's  third  voyage,  ii.  105. 

Indians,  six  taken  from  the  New 
World  ;  arrival  of  in  Spain,  i. 
282  ;  are  baptized,  i.  319  ;  killed 
by  a  foraging  party,  iii.  60; 
cabins  set  on  tire  by  the  Span- 
iards, females  captured,  ib.  ;  100 
captured,  and  sent  to  Hispan- 
iola  to  be  sold,  iii.  71 ;  70  made 
captives,  iii.  82;  Spaniards  at- 
tacked by,  iii.  83;  ambuscade 
of,  iii.  92  ;  dances  of,  in  honol 
of  the  Virgin,  iii.  107;  captiwi 
sold  as  slAves  by  Nicuesa,  iii 


INDEX, 


621 


153  ,  preserved  bodies  at  Coma- 
gre,  iii.  168:  ordered  to  be  torn 
to  pieces  by  bloodhounds,  iii. 
194;  the  sun  supposed  to  be 
worshipped  1)\  ,  iii.  21;!  ;  pr.iycr 
of  <i  <';u'ii[Uo,  ih.  :  lui  lndi;in 
of  ,J;ui);iic';i  desires  (."olumbus 
to  take  liiin  to  Spain,  i.  Ahi). 
ron,  a  pan  of,  seen  at  Giiada- 

loupe,  i.  347. 
feabella,  discovery  of  the  island 
of,  i.  181. 

-~  =-,  princess,  marriafiie  of, 

with  the  heir  apparent  of  Por- 
tugal, i.  100. 

 ,  queen  of  Arragon  and 

Castile,  character  of,  i.  75  ;  en- 
gagements of,  on  the  arrival  of 
Colambus  in  Spain,  i.  79  ;  re- 
pairs to  the  seat  of  war  in 
Granada,  i.  78 ;  thence  to  Gal- 
licia  and  Salamanca,  ib,  ;  an 
attempt  to  assassinate  her,  i. 
93  ;  Columbus  recommended  to 
her  by  the  marchioness  of  Moya, 
1.  ib.  ;  her  ability  in  mihtary 
affairs,  i.  98 ;  receives  a  letter 
from  the  prior  of  La  Rabida,  i. 
106;  invites  Columbus  to  court, 
i.  108  ;  Luis  de  St.  Angel  rea- 
sons with  her,  i.  114  ;  signifies 
her  assent,  i.  116;  declares  her 
resolution  to  pawn  her  jewels  to 
defray  the  expenses,  ib.  :  her 
enthusiasm  in  the  cause,  i.  117  ; 
her  motives,  i,  121  ;  her  joy  at 
learning  the  success  of  Colum- 
bus, i,  300 ;  her  reception  of 
him,  i.  308;  her  zeal  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Indians,  i.  319  ; 
her  anxiety  in  respect  to  the 
conversion  of  the  llaytiens,  ii. 
63  ;  humanely  prevents  the 
Haytien  slaves  from  being  sold 
to  slavery,  ib.  ;  orders  them  to 
be  sent  back  to  Ilayti,  ib.  ;  en- 
ters into  the  views  of  ColumbHS 
in  respect  to  a  third  voyage,  ii. 
98;  her  humane  directions,  ii. 
104;  death  of  her  son,  Prince 
Juan,  ii.  105 ;  makes  Colum- 
bus's two  sons  her  pages,  ii. 
107 ;  begins  to  doubt  the  con- 
duct of  Columbus,  ii.  273;  of- 
fended at  his  pertinacity  in 
making  slaves  of  the  Indians 
taken  m  war,  ii.  275  ;  orders  all 


those  pent  to  Spain  to  re- 
stored to  their  country  and 
friends,  ii.  276;  consents  to  the 
sending  out  a  commission  to  in 
vestigate  his  conduct,  ib.  ;  filled 
with  sympathy  and  indignation 
on  reading  Columbus's  letter  to 
Doiia  de  la  Torre,  ii.  30(5;  in- 
vites him  to  court,  ib.  ;  is  moved 
to  tears  at  beholding  him,  ii. 
309  ;  her  concern  for  tlie  wel- 
fare of  the  Indians,  ii.  328  ;  lis 
tens  with  complacency  to  the 
proposition  of  Columbus  for  a 
fourth  voyage,  ii.  342  ;  receives 
the  news  of  the  sanguinary  acts 
of  Ovaudo  with  horror  and  in- 
dignation, ii.  523;  exacts  a 
promise  from  the  king  that  he 
shall  be  superseded  in  the  gov- 
ernment, ib.  ;  causes  of  the 
melancholy  under  which  she 
labored,  ii.  533  ;  her  death,  ib.  \ 
and  character,  ii.  534. 


J. 

Jamaica  discovered  by  Columbus,  ^ 

i.  452  ;  the  natives  receive  Co- 
lumbus in  a  hostile  manner,  i. 
453  ;  Columbus  takes  possession 
of  it,  i.  454;  amicable  inter- 
course with  the  natives,  ib.  ; 
their  character,  i.  4-55  ;  their 
canoes,  ib.  ;  subjugated  by  Don 
Diego,  iii.  354 ;  Esquibel  made 
governor,  iii.  75. 

 ,  Cacique  of,  visits  Colum- 
bus, and  offers  to  go  and  do 
homage  to  the  king  and  queen 
of  Spain,  i.  490;  this  offei 
evaded  by  Columbus,  i.  491. 

Japan  (Cipango).  Marco  Polo's 
account  of  it,  iii.  492  ; 

Jasper,  specimens  found  amcng 
the  mountains  of  Cibao,  1. 
410. 

Jerez,  Rodrigo  de,  sent  up  the 
island  of  (Juba  by  Columbus,  i. 
197  ;  account  of  his  journey,  i. 
200. 

Jews  not  allowed  to  estgblislj 
themselves  in  the  colonics,  oj 
undertake  voyages  of  discovery 

ii.  327. 

John  a'  AnjoUj  an  account  of  hil 


622 


INDEX. 


fixpedition  against  Naples,  iii. 
SS9. 

John  II.,  king  of  Portugal,  the 
passion  for  maritime  di(<covery 
revives  uiider,  i.  59 ;  sends  mis- 
sions in  quest  of  Prester  John, 
1.  60 ;  receives  a  proposition  of 
a  voyage  of  discovery  from  Co- 
himbus,  i.  62 ;  refers  it  to  a 
junto  and  his  counsel,  who  re- 
port it  to  be  visionary,  i.  64; 
consents  to  use  an  unwarranta- 
ble stratagem,  i.  67  ;  desires  to 
renew  the  negotiation  with  Co- 
lumbus, ib.  ;  who  refuses,  and 
quits  Portugal,  i.  68 ;  invites 
Columbus  to  Portugal,  and 
promises  protection,  i.  97  ;  in- 
vites Columbus  on  his  return 
from  the  New  World,  i.  284  ;  his 
jealousy  excited,  i.  286 ;  his 
armament,  i.  322  ;  his  negotia- 
tions with  Ferdinand  in  respect 
to  the  new  discoveries,  i.  3-3, 
324  ;  his  idea  in  respect  to  a  con- 
tinent in  the  southern  ocean,  ii. 
335. 

Josephus,  his  opinion  relative  to 
the  gold  usnd  in  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem,  ii.  399. 

Juan,  prince,  his  nuptials,  ii.  98  ; 
his  death,  ii.  106. 

Juana,  queen  of  Castile,  arrival 
of,  ii.  546  ;  promises  a  prosper- 
ous termination  to  the  suit  of 
Columbus,  ii.  546. 

Junta  de  Descargos,  the  claims  of 
Columbus  referred  to  the,  ii. 
543. 

K. 

Kings,  Moorish,  of  Granada,  one 
of  them  surrenders  his  preten- 
sions to  Ferdinand,  i.  99  ;  the 
other  surrenders  Granada,  i. 
110. 

Kircher,  Athanasius,  his  opinion 
relative  to  the  travels  of  Marco 
Polo,  iii.  487. 


L. 

Labrador,  discovered  by  Sebastian 

Cabot,  ii.  316. 
LfectantiuSj  passage  quoted  from, 


to  prove  Ihe  impossibilltj  5< 
there  being  antipodes,  i.  88. 
Lapis    lazuli,    specimens  found 
among  the  mountains  of  CItac, 

i.  410. 

Ledesma,  Pedro,  his  gallant  eon- 
duct,  ii.  419;  involves  himsell 
in  Porras's  mutiny,  and  re- 
ceives a  multitude  of  wounds 

ii.  479  ;  is  assassinated,  ib. 
Lepe,  Diego  de,  voyage  of,  iii.  53  , 

sets  sail  from  Palos,  ib.  ;  doubles 
Cape  St.  Augustine,  ;  discov 
ers  more  of  the  southern  conti- 
nent than  any  voyager  of  his 
day,  ii.  315. 

Lineage  of  Christopher  Columbus, 
an  account  of,  iii.  372. 

Lombards,  the  extent  of  theii 
trade,  i.  27. 

Lopez,  Juan,  his  rencontre  with 
Cotabanama,  ii.  513. 

Lots  for  pilgrimages,  drawing  of, 
i.  268. 

Luxan,  Juan  de,  his  excursion 
among  the  mountains  of  Cibao, 
i.  414. 


M. 

Macham,  his  discovery  of  Madeira, 
i.  24  ;  an  account  of  his  adven- 
tures, iii.  513. 

Madeira,  an  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  island  of,  iii.  513. 

Magellan,  electrical  lights  seen 
during  his  voyage  on  the  masts 
of  ships,  i.  342. 

Maguana,  domain  of,  an  account 
of,  ii.  10. 

Mahogany,  canoes  made  of,  i.  455. 

Maize,  cultivated  in  Ilayti,  i.  427. 

Maladies  of  the  Spaniards  in 
Ilayti,  i.  384,  433.  . 

Malaga,  siege  and  capture  of,  i. 
94,  96. 

Maldonado,  Don  Alonzo,  appoint- 
ed Alguazil-mayor  in  the  placa 
of  Roldan,  in  Hispaniola,  iL 
331. 

 ,  Melchor,  visits  Gua- 

canagari,  i.  373  ;  proceeds  along 
the  coast,  i.  380,  381. 

Malte-Brun,  his  conjecture  rela- 
tive to  Columbus  considered 
iii.  439. 


INDEX. 


623 


Man,  origin  of,  according  to  the 
Hay  tie  IIS,  i.  421. 

Mangrove  trees,  iii.  85 ;  Ojeda 
seeks  refuge  from  the  Indians 
in  one,  iii.  86. 

Manicaotex,  succeed.^  Caonabo,  ii. 
40;  couunauds  in  a  battle,  ii. 
44;  is  conquered  and  sues  for 
peace,  ii.  47  ;  compelled  to  pay 
half  a  calabash  of  gold  every 
three  months,  ii.  48  ;  assembly 
of  the  Caciques  at  his  house  to 
prefer  complaints  against  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  69. 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  a  short  ac- 
count of  liis  travels,  iii.  494; 
held  in  great  authority  by  Co- 
lumbus, iii.  498. 

Mangon,  a  province  of  Cuba,  i. 
464. 

Map,  Paulo  Toscanelli's,  used  by 
Columbus  on  his  first  voyage,  i. 
54. 

31f.ps,  a  great  improvement  made 
in,  i.  35. 

Marble,  masses  of,  found  among 
the  mountains  of  Cibao,  i.  410. 

MarcoHni,  his  account  of  "^stoti- 
land  and  Drogeo,  iii.  439. 

Margarita,  island  of,  ii.  137. 

 of  Austria,  lier  nuptials 

with  prince  Juan,  ii.  98. 

\Iargarite,  Pedro,  recommended 
to  a  command  by  Columbus,  i. 
392  ;  made  commander  of  the 
fortress  of  St.  Thomas,  i.  415  ; 
sends  an  account  of  the  conduct 
of  his  colony,  &c.,  i.  432;  is 
invested  with  the  command  of 
the  forces,  i.  440  ;  disregards 
his  instructions,  i.  441 ;  his  mis- 
conduct during  tiie  absence  of 
Columbus,  ii.  11-15 ;  is  cen- 
sured by  Diego  Columbus,  ii. 
12 ;  forms  a  plan  of  returning 
to  Spain,  ii.  14 ;  sets  sail,  ii.  15 ; 
his  accusations  of  Columbus  at 
Madrid,  ii.  56. 

Marque,  Diego,  missed  at  Guada- 
ioupe,  i.  348  ;  his  return,  i.  350; 
is  placed  under  arrest,  351. 

Maria,  Santa,  discovery  of,  i.  352. 

Marien,  domain,  account  of,  ii. 
10. 

Martin  V. ,  Pope,  concedes  to  the 
crown  of  Pcr<-ugal  all  the  lands 


I     it  might  discover  from  Capi 

Bajador  to  the  Indies,  i.  312 
I  Marta,  Santa,  discovery  of,  i.  461 
1  Martin,  San,  island  of,  disco ver»^d, 
!     i.  352. 

I  Martyr,  Peter,  his  account  of 
Coba,  i.  206  ;  his  description  i>f 
the  natives  of  Ilispaniola  i. 
220  ;  sent  to  tlie  soldan  of 
Egypt  to  make  arrangemeuta 
for  the  conservation  of  the  holy 
sepulchre,  ii  345  ;  short  ac- 
count of  his  life  and  writings, 
iii.  423 ;  passages  from  his  let- 
ters relative  to  Columbus,  iii. 
424  ;  his  character  of  Amerigo 
Vespucci,  iii.  395. 

Marigalante,  island  of,  discovery 
of,  i.  344. 

Martin,  Alonzo,  the  first  Europe- 
an on  the  Pacific,  in  a  vessel, 
iii.  201. 

Mateo,  .luan,  a  Haytien  convert- 
ed to  Christianity,  ii.  166. 

Mauro,  constructs  a  celebrated 
map,  i.  36. 

Maya,  province  of  Yucatan,  na- 
tives of,  cannibals,  iii.  287. 

Mayobauex,  Cacique  of  the  Ci- 
guayens,  i.  263 ;  Guarionex  flies 
to  him  for  refuge,  ii,  199  ;  his 
answer  to  the  Adelantado,  when 
desired  to  give  up  Guarionex 
ii.  203  ;  is  deserted  in  his  need 
ii.  204;  compelled  to  fly,  ib.  . 
is  seized  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, ii.  206. 

Medina  Celi,  duke  of,  enterfcaint 
Columbus,  i.  70;  application  of 
Columbus  to,i.  71 ;  writes  to  the 
queen,  ib. ;  account  of,  iii.  18. 

 ,  Sidonia,  duke  of,  applica 

tion  of  Columbus  to,  i.  70 
plan  rejected,  ib. 

Melons  introduced  into  Hayti,  i 
431. 

Mendez,  Diego,  his  bold  conduct 
at  Veragua,  ii.  402  ;  his  reward, 
ii.  425  ;  his  meritorious  conduct 
at  Jamaica,  ii.  434  ;  his  conver- 
sation with  Columbus,  ii  436; 
undertakes  to  go  in  a  ca.  *e  to 
St.  Domingo,  ib. ;  departs  witfe 
one  Spaniard  and  six  Indians 
ii,  437  ;  narrowly  escapes  being 
murdered  by  the  Indians  o!  flu 


624 


INDEX. 


coast,  and  returns,  ii.  441 ;  ac- 
count of  his  voyage,  ii.  465 ; 
sails  for  Spain,  "ii.  482;  his 
subsequent  history,  ii.  and 
note. 

Mendoza,  Pedro  Gonzales  de, — 
see  Toledo,  Archbishop  of. 

Meneses,  Don  Pedro  de,  his  an- 
swer to  the  Bishop  of  Ceuta  in 
respect  to  the  propriety  of  mar- 
itime discoveries,  i.  68. 

Mermaids,  three  supposed,  seen  by 
(Johunbus,  i.  258. 

Blexiatrillo,  Rodrigo,  commands 
the  soldiery  at  the  massacre  of 
Xaragua,  ii.  493. 

Misa,  Rio  de  la,  so  called  from  mass 
performed  on  its  banks,  i.  486. 

Monis  de  Pahstrello,  Dona  Feiipa, 
her  marriage  with  Columbus,  i. 
o4. 

Monte  Christi,  description  of,  i. 
383  ;  Columbus  founds  the  citv 
of  Isabella,  i.  384. 

Montserrat,  di^^covery  of,  1.  352. 

Moors,  war  against  the,  i.  78. 

 ,  none  permitted  to  estab- 
lish themselves  in  the  colonies 
or  go  on  voyages  of  discovery, 

ii.  327. 

Morales,  Caspar,  expedition  of,  to 
the  Pacific,  iii.  253. 

 ,  Francisco,  his  evidence 

relative  to  the  discovery  of  the 
coast  of  Paria  by  Columbus, 

iii.  411. 

Mother-of-pearl  found  on  the  coast 
of  Paria,  ii.  130. 

Moxica,  Adrian  de,  conspiracy  of, 
ii.  260  ;  meditates  the  death  of 
the  Admiral  and  of  Roldan,  ii. 
265;  is  seized,  ih.]  and  flung 
headlong  from  the  battlements 
of  Fort  Conception,  ii.  266. 

iloya,  march iouess  of,  becomes  a 
friend  to  Columbus,  i.  06  ;  and 
recommends  his  suit  to  the 
queeo,  ib.  ;  also,  108-116. 

Blulatas,  island  of,  discovered,  ii. 
127. 

Mules,  the  employment  of,  under 
the  saddle,  prohibited  in  Spain, 
ii.  588. 

Music  of  the  Ilaytiens,  i.  425. 
Husicians  sent  to  Ilayti  to  enliven 
the  spirits  of  the  ;olony,  ii.  103. 


N. 

Names,  exchangin}?,  an  Indiai 
league  of  fraternity,  ii.  504. 

Navarre te,  his  opinion  relative  td 
the  island  first  discovered  by 
Columbus,  iii.  450. 

Navasa,  island  of,  ii.  467 ;  foun- 
tain near,  ii.  469. 

Navidad,  La.,  or  the  Nativity, 
construction  of  the  fortress  of, 
i.  249 ;  disasters  at  the  fortress 
i.  363-366;  abandoned  by  Co- 
lumbus, i.  381. 

Needle  varies  a  whole  point,  ii. 
145  ;  Columbus's  speculation  in 
respect  to,  ii.  146. 

Negroes  of  Africa  introduced  into 
Hispaniola,  iii.  357  ;  their  first 
revolt,  ib. 

Negotiations,  diplomatic,  between 
the  courts  of  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal, with  respect  to  the  new  dis- 
coveries, i.  322. 

Newfoundland,  assertions  relative 
to  the  discovery  of,  by  the  Scan- 
dinavians, iii.  435. 

Nicholas,  St.,  harbor  of,  i.  215. 

Nicuesa,  Diego  de,  rival  of  Ojeda 
at  the  court  of  Ferdinand,  iii. 
69;  character  of, /ft. ;  Gracios 
Dios  assigned  to  him  by  Ferdi- 
nand, iii.  70  ;  captures  100 
slaves  and  sends  them  to  His- 
paniola to  be  sold,  iii.  71 ;  feud 
with  Ojeda,  iii.  72 ;  evades  the 
offer  of  Ojeda  to  settle  by  com- 
bat, iii.  73;  harassed  by  duns, 
iii.  76;  arrested,  iii.  77;  re- 
lieved by  a  stranger,  ib.  ;  ar 
rives  at  coast  of  Carthagena,  iii 
85  ;  reconciled  with  Ojeda,  iii 
88 ;  destroys  Carthagena,  iii 
89;  sails  for  the  Gulf  of  Uraba, 
iii.  90 ;  arrives  off  the  coast 
of  Veragua,  iii.  il6  ;  vessel 
grounded,  iii.  117;  hardships 
of  crew,  iii.  118  .  page  killed  by 
an  Indian,  iii.  119  ;  on  a  deso- 
late island,  iii.  120  ;  causes 
Olano  to  be  seized,  iii.  126  ;  300 
of  his  armament  who  left  with 
him  on  the  expedition  hav« 
perished,  iii.  126 ;  sutTerings  of 
his  men  on  the  coast  of  thi 


INDEX, 


625 


IgthuiuR,  iii.  127 ;  reaches  Puer- 
to Hello  —  takes  possession  of 
Puerto  de  Bastirnientos,  iii.  129 ; 
sent  for  to  govern  Darien,  iii. 
150  ;  Ills  threats,  iii.  151  ;  slaves 
sold  hy^  iii.  152 ;  appears  off 
Darien,  iii.  153  ;  threatened 
wi/h  violence  if  he  should  land, 

ih.  •  lauds,  iii.  154  ;  sets  sail  for 
Ili^paniola,  and  never  heard 
of  after,  iii.  157;  appointed 
governor  of  Golden  Castle,  iii. 
354. 

fVino  Pedro  Alonzo,  sails  for  Hayti, 

ii.  90 ;  arrives  at  Cadiz  from 
Hispaniola,  with  a  number  of 
Indian  prisoners,  ii.  98  :  expedi- 
tion of,  iii.  37  ;  lands  at  the  Gulf 
of  Paria,  iii.  38  ;  fights  with 
the  Caribs,  iii.  39;  visit  Mar- 
garita, ib.  ;  returns  to  Spain, 
iii.  41 ;  imprisoned,  iii.  42. 

Kombre  de  Dios,  iii.  129. 

Noya,  Juan  de,  his  escape  by 
diving,  ii.  413. 

Nunez,  Alonzo,  remains  at  the 
Isthmus,  iii.  128  ;  character  of, 
iii.  132 ;  advice  to  Enciso,  iii. 
143 ;  takes  part  in  the  faction  at 
Darien,  iii.  146 ;  Nicuesa  is 
threatened  with  violence  if  he 
should  land,  iii.  154  ;  interposes 
between  the  people  and  Ni- 
cuesa, iii.  155 ;  visits  the  Cacique 
Careta,  his  humanity  yields 
to  the  address  of  the  Indians, 
iii.  165 ;  marries  the  daughter 
of  Careta,  iii.  166  ;  invades  the 
territories  of  Ponca,  iii.  167; 
receives  gold  from  the  Cacique 
Comargro,  iii.  169  ;  sends  Valdi- 
via  to  Hispaniola  for  provisions, 
iii.  171  ;  expedition  of,  to  the 
golden  temple  of  Dobayba,  iii. 
172  ;  returns  to  Uraba,  iii.  175; 
to  Darien,  iii.  178 ;  discovers  the 
plot  of  Zemaco,  iii.  180  ;  sur- 
prises the  Indians,  iii.  181 ; 
faction  directed  against,  iii.  185 ; 
his  conduct,  iii.  186 ;  is  recalled, 
ib. ;  made  Captain  General  of 
the  colony,  iii.  187  ;  receives 
unfavorable  news  from  Spam, 
Iii.  188  ;  account  of  his  expedi- 
tion to  the  Pacific,  iii.  190  ;  his 
cruelty  to  the  Indians,  iii.  193  ; 
discovers  the  Pacifir,  iii.  198  j 
VOL.  HI.  40 


erects  a  cross,  iii  198  ;  takes 
possession,  iii.  203  advei.tur«« 
on  the  borders,  ii  205  ;  ven- 
tures out  in  cano  s,  iii.  206; 
difficulties  occur,  iii.  208  ;  finds 
abundance  of  pearls,  iii.  2('9; 
sufferings  of,  iii.  217  ;  gold 
brought  to  him  instead  of  pro- 
visions, iii.  218  ;  stratagem  of, 
against  Tubanama,  iii.  219  ;  the 
Cacique  refuses  to  discover  the 
mines,  iii.  220 ;  searches  the 
rivers  for  gold,  ib. ;  is  taken 
sick,  iii.  221 ;  his  character,  iii. 
223  ;  writes  letters  to  the  king, 
iii.  224  ;  sends  a  messenger  to 
Spain  to  defend  him,  iii.  224: 
finds  an  advocate  in  Zamudio, 
iii.  225  ;  is  superseded  by  Davila, 
■ib. ;  ordered  to  be  deposed, 
iii.  230 ;  considered  a  worthy 
successor  of  Columbus,  iii.  231 ; 
judicial  inquiry  concerning, 
iii.  243 ;  second  expedition  to 
Dobayba,  iii.  245;  made  Ad- 
elantado  of  the  South  Sea  and 
governor  of  Panama  and  Coyba, 
iii.  249 ;  is  imprisoned,  iii.  252  ; 
offered  the  daughter  of  Davila 
in  marriage,  iii.  265  ;  transports 
ships  across  the  Isthmus,  iii. 
267  ;  cruise  of,  on  the  Pacific, 
iii.  270  ;  finds  whales  in  great 
numbers,  iii.  271 ;  lands  on  the 
coast,  ib.  ;  hears  that  Sosa  is 
to  supersede  Pedrarias,  iii.  272 ; 
his  action,  ib.  ;  difficulty  be- 
tween, and  Pedrarias  Davila  re- 
newed, iii.  275  ;  prophecy  of  an 
astrologer  concerning,  iii.  276; 
returns  to  Ada,  iii.  278 ;  arrested 
and  imprisoned  by  Davila,  iii. 
279 ;  hypocrisy  of  Davila,  iii, 
279 ;  reply  of  Nunez,  iii.  281 ; 
verdict  against  —  condemned  to 
be  executed,  iii.  282 ;  is  executed 
wit  1  three  of  his  officers,  iii. 
284;  property  confiscated,  and 
his  head  placed  on  a  pole,  iii 
286 ;  reflections,  ih. 


0. 

Ocampo,  associate  of  Ojeda,  III 
62. 

Ocean,  line  of  demarkation  of 


626 


INDEX. 


the,  between  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal, i.  336. 

Oderigo,  documents  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  family  of,  relative  to 
Columbus,  ii.  347. 

Ojeda,  Don  Alonso  de,  account  of, 
iii.  17;  goes  in  search  of  Diego 
Marque,  at  Guadaloupe,  i.  344; 
his  expedition  to  explore  the 
interior  of  Ilispaniola,  i.  387; 
sallies  from  Isabella,  i.  442; 
character  of,  ib. ;  his  conduct  in 
respect  to  some  Haytien  thieves, 
ib. ;  character  of,  ii.  18 ;  is 
besieged  by  Caonabo,  ii.  19 ; 
anecdote  of,  ii.  20;  undertakes 
to  seize  Caonabo,  and  deliver 
him  alive  into  the  hands  of  Co- 
lumbus, ii.  27;  visits  him,  ii. 
28 ;  offers  him  the  bell  of  Isa- 
bel la,  ib.  ;  his  stratagem  to  take 
him  off,  ii.  29 ;  conquers  in  an 
engagement  with  a  brother  of 
Caonabo,  ii.  33;  his  conduct  at 
the  battle  of  the  Vega,  ii.  44 ; 
arrives  at  the  western  part  of 
Hispaniola  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, ii.  248 ;  cause  of  his 
voyage,  ii.  251 ;  liis  manoeuvres 
with  Roldan,  ii.  257  ;  leaves  the 
island  with  a  threat,  ii.  259; 
returns  to  Spain  with  a  drove 
of  slaves,  ih. ;  conceives  projects 
of  a  voyage,  iii.  20;  obtains 
permission  to  make  the  voyage, 
iii.  21 ;  assisted  by  the  m.erchants 
of  Seville,  iii.  22;  discovers 
Surinam,  iii.  24 ;  lands  at  Mar- 
acapana,  iii.  27 ;  sails  against 
the  cannibals,  ib.  ;  battle  with 
the  CaribSjiii.  28;  discovers  the 
Gulf  of  Venezuela,  iii.  30; 
attacked  by  the  Indians,  iii. 
31;  at  Maracaibo,  iii.  32; 
abandons  his  voyage  and  sails 
for  Hispaniola,  iii.  34 ;  is  obliged 
to  leave  by  Columbus,  iii.  35; 
returns  to  Spain,  ?6. ;  second 
voyage  of,  iii.  57 ;  made  gover- 
not  of  Coquibacoa,  ib. ;  instruc- 
tions to,  relative  to  the  English, 
iii.  58 ;  forages  upon  the  natives, 
iii.  59 ;  a  plan  laid  to  en  trap  him, 
Iii.  63;  attempts  an  escape,  iii 
64;  verdict  concerning  strong- 
box given  against,  iii.  65; 
acquitted,  i6. ;  makes  another 


voyage  to  Coquibacoa,  iii  60 
chosen  by  Ferdinand  toesta61ish 
colonies  in  Veragua,  iii.  67 ; 
offered  assistance  by  Cosa,  iii. 
68 ;  Nicuesa  becomes  his  rivaj 

—  Ferdinand  favors  both,  iii, 
70 ;  New  Andalusia  assigned  to 
him,  ib. ;  feud  with  Nicuesa,  iii 
71 ;  proposes  to  settle  the  dis  • 
pute  by  combat,  iii.  74 ;  Cosa 
interposes,  ib.  ;  exploits  of,  on 
the  coast  of  Carthagena,  iii. 
78  ;  attacks  the  natives,  iii.  81 ; 
cabins  of,  set  on  fire  by  his 
order,  iii.  82 :  valor  of,  iii.  83 ; 
escape  of,  iii.  86 ;  reconciled 
with  Nicuesa,  iii.  88 ;  San  Sebas- 
tian settled  by,  iii.  91 ;  natives 
of,  iii.  92 ;  supposed  by  the 
Indians  to  have  a  charmed  life, 
iii.  93 ;  severely  wounded,  iii. 
94;  his  remedy,  ib.\  supersti- 
tion of,  iii.  97  ;  put  in  irons  by 
Talavera,  iii.  101 ;  march  of, 
through  Cuba,  iii.  103  :  vow  of 

—  performs  his  vow,  iii.  106 ; 
perilous  voyage  in  a  canoe,  iii. 
109 ;  arrives  at  Jamaica,  iii. 
110  ;  entertains  fears  of  Enciso'g 
safety,  iii.  Ill ;  waylaid,  iii. 
113 ;  defends  himself  against  a 
number,  ib. ;  turns  monk  and 
dies,  ib. ;  character  of,  iii.  114  ; 
appointed  governor  of  New 
Andalusia,  iii.  354 ;  fails  in  hia 
undertaking  to  colonize  that 
country,  iii.  354 ;  his  evidence 
relative  to  the  discovery  of  the 
coast  of  Paria  by  Columbus,  iii. 
412  ;  manifesto  of,  iii.  595. 

Ojeda,  Padre  Alonzo  de,  iii.  19. 

Olano,  Lope  de,  commands  one  of 
the  squadrons  of  Nicuesa,-  iii. 
116;  fears  entertained  of  his 
safety,  iii.  117 ;  conduct  of,  iii. 
123 ;  Nicuesa,  causes  him  to  be 
seized,  iii.  125  ;  his  advice  to  th6 
colonists,  iii.  152. 

Oro,  Rio  del,  or  Santiago,  dis- 
covered, i.  258. 

Otto,  Mons.,  remarks  on  his 
letter  to  Dr.  Franklin  relative 
to  Martin  Behem,  iii.  431. 

Ovando,  Don  Nicholas  de,  chosen 
to  supersede  Bobadilla,  ii.  322  { 
character  of,  ih. ;  great  privileges 
granted  to,  ii.  327  ;  his  fleet,  ii 


INDEX. 


627 


830 ;  allowed  to  wear  silk, 
precious  stoues,  &c.,  ii.  330; 
Bails,  ii.  331  ;  reaches  St.  Do- 
mingo and  assumes  the  govern- 
ment, ii.  351  ;  refuses  to  let  Co- 
lumbus take  shelter,  ii.  353 ; 
his  mysterious  conduct  to  Co- 
lumbus in  his  distress  at  Ja- 
maica, ii.  471;  au  account  of 
his  administration  and  oppres- 
sion, ii.  486;  sufferings  of  the 
natives  under  the  civil  policy  of, 
ii.  487 ;  view  of  the  military 
operations  of,  ii.  491 ;  visits 
Anacaona,  ii.  493  ;  takes  it  into 
his  head  that  she  intends  to 
massacre  him  and  all  his  at- 
tendants, ii.  494  ;  seizes  Anac- 
aona ;  and  burns  all  the  Ca- 
ciques, ii.  496;  massacres  the 
populace,  ii.  497 ;  and  causes 
Anacaona  to  be  ignomin- 
iously  hanged,  ii.  498 ;  his 
further  atrocious  conduct  to 
the  unfortunate  Indians,  ii. 
499 ;  founds  Santa  Maria  in 
commemoration  of  his  atroci- 
ties, ii.  500 ;  wages  war  against 
the  natives  of  Iliguey,  ii.  501 ; 
causes  many  of  them  to  be 
slaughtered,  and  their  chief- 
tains to  be  burned,  ii.  503 ; 
hangs  a  female  Cacique  of  dis- 
tinction, ib. ;  causes  600  Indians 
of  Saona  to  be  imprisoned  in 
one  dwelling  and  put  to  the 
sword,  ih.;  receives  Columbus 
on  his  arrival  at  St.  Domingo 
with  an  hypocritical  politeness, 
ii.  521 ;  is  superseded  by  Don 
Diego  Columbus,  but  permitted 
to  retain  possession  of  all  his 
property,  iii.  348. 

Oviedo,  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de,  a 
short  account  of  his  life  and 
writings,  iii.  428. 

Oysters,  in  the  Gulf  of  Paria, 
round  the  roots  of  the  man- 
grove trees,  ii.  135. 

0»ema,  river  of,  and  the  country 
through  which  it  flows,  ii.  154. 


P. 

Pftclfic  Ocean,  discoyery  of  by 
Nunez, 'ii  196. 


Pascua,  Florida,  discovered,  iii 
328. 

Palos,  the  port,  whence  Columbul 
sailed  on  his  first  expedition,  i 
124;  present  state  of,  i.  295; 
visit  to,  iii.  454. 

Palms,  Cape  of,  discovered,  i. 
194. 

Pane,  Roman,  labors  to  convert 
the  Haytiens,  ii.  165. 

Paradise,  observations  on  the  sit- 
uation of  the  terrestrial,  iii. 
551 ;  of  the  Haytiens,  i.  424. 

Paria,  Gulf  of,  Columbus's  voy- 
age through  the,  ii.  126;  de- 
scription of  the  coast  of,  ii. 
120  ;  manners  of  the  natives,  ii. 
122 ;  current  of  the  sea,  ii. 
124. 

Parrots,  first  seen  in  the  west- 
ern hemisphere,  i.  173;  large 
flights  of,  seen,  i.  184;  found 
on  the  coast  of  Paria,  ii.  131. 

Partition,  papal  bull  of,  i.  314; 
line  of  removed,  i.  336. 

Passauionte,  Miguel,  becom.es  an 
enemy  to  Don  Diego  Columbus, 
iii.  351. 

Pearls,  the  Gulf  of,  ii.  134. 

 of  Cubagua,  ii.  131. 

 ,  abundance    of   on  the 

coast  of  the  Pacific,  iii.  209; 
paddles  of  a  canoe  inlaid  with, 
iii.  211;  pearl  islands,  iii.  255; 
tribute  of,  iii.  256;  of  great 
value  found,  iii.  255;  a  Ca- 
cique's remark  about,  ib. 

Pedrarias,  see  Davila. 

Pelicans,  iii.  329. 

Pepper,  Agi,  i.  265. 

Perez,  Alonzo,  discovers  land  in 
Columbus's  third  voyage,  ii. 
119 ;  joins  the  faction  at  Darien, 
iii.  184;  thrown  into  prison, 
ib. ;  liberated,  iii.  185 ;  again 
assumes  command  of  the 
faction,  ib. 

 Juan,  sent  by  Ponce  on  dis- 
coveries, iii.  330; 'returns  to 
Porto  Rico,  ib. ;  finds  Bimini, 
ib. ;  see  note,  iii.  331. 

 Fray  Juan,  prior  of  the 

convent  of  La  Rabida,  enter- 
tains Columbus  on  his  first 
entry  into  Spain,  i.  104;  givef 
him  letters  of  introduction  to 
the    queen's    confessor,  and 


628 


INDEX. 


educates  his  son,  i.  106;  recep- 
tion of  Columbus,  i.  104 ;  writes 
to  queen  Isabella,  i.  107;  in- 
vited to  court,  i.  109 ;  pleads 
the  cause  of  Columbus,  i.  108 ; 
receives  a  visit  from  Columbus 
after  his  success,  i.  124. 

rhilip,  king  of  Castile,  listens  to 
the  request  of  Columbus,  and 
promises  a  prosperous  termi- 
nation to  his  suit,  ii.  546. 

pigeons,  wood,  vast  number  seen 
on  the  south  side  of  Cuba,  i. 
474. 

Pilgrimages,  lots  for,  drawing  of, 
i.  268. 

Pilot,  observations  on  the  rumor 
of  a  pilot  having  died  in  the 
house  of  Columbus,  iii.  422. 

Pine-apple  first  met  with,  i.  346. 

Pines,  island  of,  discovered  by- 
Columbus,  i.  480. 

Pinos,  Isla  de,  discovery  of,  ii. 
359. 

Pinta,  desertion  of,  i.  209. 

Pinzons,  family  of,  they  enable  Co- 
lumbus to  offer  to  bear  one- 
eighth  of  the  charge  of  the  ex- 
pedition, and  to  add  a  third  ship 
to  the  armament,  i.  119;  their 
activity  and  interest  in  the  voy- 
age, i.  127 ;  furnish  Columbus 
with  money  to  defray  the  eighth 
share  of  the  expense,  i.  128 ; 
account  of  their  family,  i.  294, 
note. 

Pinzon,  Martin  Alonzo,  offers  to 
bear  the  expenses  of  Columbus 
in  a  renewed  application  to  the 
court,  i.  106 ;  his  opinion  rela- 
tive to  the  nearness  of  land,  i. 
157 ;  begins  to  lose  confidence 
in  the  course  they  are  pursuing, 
i.  159 ;  crediting  accounts  of 
the  Indians  in  respect  to  a  very 
rich  island,  deserts  and  goes 
in  search  of  it,  i.  210 ;  Colum- 
bus meets  him ,  i.  256 ;  his 
apology,  ih.  ;  account  of  his 
proceedings,  ib.  ;  his  duplicity 
becomes  more  evident,  i.  258 ; 
his  arrival  at  Palos,  i.  292 ; 
effect  of  his  treacherous  con- 
duct, ih  ;  his  death,  i.  293  ;  re- 
flections on,  i.  293 ;  observations 
relative  to  the  supposed  idea  of 
Columbus   owing  to  him  the 


success  of  his  great  enterprise 
iii.  80  ;  his  character,  iii.  ^1. 

 ,  Vicente   Yanez,  obtain! 

a  license  for  voyages  of  dis- 
covery, ii.  59  ;  sails  on  a  voyaga 
of  discovery,  ii.  313;  diseoverl 
the  Brazils,  ii.  314 ;  discovers 
the  river  of  Amazons,  ib.  ;  iii.  48 ; 
is  allowed,  as  a  reward,  to  col 
onize  and  govern  the  lands 
which  he  had  discovered,  ii. 
315  ;  armament  of,  iii.  44  ;  sails, 
iii.  45 ;  combat  with  the  Indians, 
iii.  47 ;  loses  two  ships  in  a 
hurricane,  iii.  49 :  returns  to 
Spain,  iii.  60;  ships  seized  by 
his  creditors,  ib. 

Pizarro  Francisca,  sails  for  Car- 
thagena,  iii.  78  ;  account  of,  ib. ; 
lieutenant  of  the  colony  of  San 
Sebastian,  iii.  100;  arrives  at 
Carthagena,  iii.  135 ;  sent  to  the 
province  of  Coyba  for  gold,  iii. 
162  ;  is  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
iii.  163. 

Planisphere  of  Martin  Behem,  i. 
135. 

Pliny,  his  notice  of  electrical 
lights  on  the  masts  of  ships,  i. 
342. 

Poetry  of  the  Haytiens,  i.  426. 

Polo,  Nicholas  and  Matteo,  an 
account  of  their  travels  into  the 
east,  iii.  474  ;  their  first  journey, 
ib. ;  return,  iii.  477 ;  their 
second  journey,  iii.  478 ;  their 
return,  iii.  481;  invite  their 
relatives  to  a  splendid  banquet, 
iii.  483. 

Polo,  Marco,  influence  of  his  tray- 
els  upon  the  mind  of  Columbus, 
i.  56,  iii.  474  ;  short  account  of 
his  travels, /i>. ;  his  return,  iii. 
477  ;  commands  a  galley  at  th« 
battle  of  Cuzzola,  iii.  484;  ia 
taken  prisoner  and  sent  in 
chains  to  Genoa,  ik. ;  writes  an 
account  of  his  travt  Is,  iii.  485  ;  is 
liberated  and  returns  to  Venice, 
iii.  485 :  an  account  of  his  work, 
iii.  486.' 

Ponca,  Cacique  of,  his  territories 
and  villages  ravaged  and  sacked 
by  Nunez,  iii.  167. 

Ponce,  Juan  de  Leon,  sent  by 
Ovando  to  Higuey,  iii.  306  ;  a<y 
companies  Columbus   on  hiii 


INDEX. 


second  voyage,  it  :  expedition 
to  Boriquen,  iii.  307;  gold  at, 
in.  308  ;  aspires  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Porto  Ilico  or  Boriquen, 
iii.  309  ;  appointed  governor  of 
Porto  Rico  by  Ferdinand,  iii. 
311 ;  sends  Ceron  and  Diaz  pris- 
oners to  Spain,  //,.  ;  appoints 
Sotomayor  his  lieutenant,  who 
soon  resigns,  iii.  312  ;  his  treat- 
ment of  the  Indians,  iii.  313  ; 
stratagems  of  against  the  Indi- 
ans, iii.  319 ;  sagacity  of  his 
dog,  iii.  320  ;  attacks  the  Ca- 
cique Agueybana,  iii.  322;  re- 
ceives a  letter  from  the  king, 
iii.  323;  subdues  the  island, 
iii.  324  ;  resigns,  ib.  ;  expedition 
of  in  search  of  the  fountain  in 
Bimini,  the  waters  of  which 
were  said  to  be  rejuvenating, 
iii.  325  ;  sails  from  St.  Germain, 
iii.  327 ;  discovers  Turtle  Isl- 
and, iii.  329 ;  discovers  La 
Vieja,  or  Old  Woman's  group, 
ib. ;  returns  to  Porto  Rico,  iii. 
330;  returns  to  Spain,  iii.  331 ; 
made  Adelantado  of  Florida, 
ib.  ;  ordered  by  the  king  to 
take  command  of  the  expedi- 
tion against  the  Caribs,  iii.  332; 
arrival  at  Guadaloupe,  iii.  333  ; 
death  of,  iii.  334 ;  epitaph,  iii. 
335. 

Poncra,  Cacique,  a  hideous  de- 
formity, iii.  215  ;  torn  to  pieces 
by  bloodhounds,  iii.  216. 

Porras,  Francisco  de,  engages  in 
a  mutiny  at  Jamaica,  ii.  443; 
they  embark  with  most  of  Co- 
lumbus's crew  in  ten  Indian 
3anoes,  ii.  450  ;  are  driven  back, 
ii.  453 ;  and  with  their  com- 
panions rove  about  the  island, 

-  ib. ;  refuses  an  offer  of  pardon, 

ii.  475 ;  attacks  the  Admiral 
and  Adelantado,  ii.  478  ;  taken 
prisoner,  ib.  ;  is  set  at  liberty 
by  Ovando,  ii.  520 ;  and  sent  to 
Spain  to  be  examined  by  the 
Indian  board,  ii.  521. 

Porto  Rico,  or  Boriquen,  dis- 
covery of,  i.  355,  iii.  305 ;  beauty 
of,  ib. ;  natives  of,  iii.  308 ; 
gold  at,  ib. ;  wonderful  river  in, 

iii.  325 

Portugal  and  Spain,  diplomatic 


negotiations  betw,jen  the  court! 

of,  with  respect  to  the  new  di» 

coveries,  i.  322. 
Potato  in  Ilayti,  i.  427. 
Prado,  prior  of,  —  see  Talavera. 
Prester  .John,  an  imaginary  Chris* 

tian  king,  i.  60 ;  account  of 

iii.  471. 

Priests  of  the  Haytiens,  i.  418. 

Ptolemy,  difficulty  at  the  coun- 
cil of  Salamanca  to  reconcila 
the  theory  of  Columbus  wltb 
that  of,  i.  92. 

Puerto  de  Bastimentos,  harbor  of, 

ii.  383. 

  Bello,   discovery  of,  by 

Columbus,  ii.  382. 

  Santo,  Columbus's  de- 
scription of,  i.  211. 

Q. 

Queen's  Garden,  Columbus^s  ar- 
rival at,  in  his  third  voyage,  ii. 
358 ;  archipelago  of,  discovered, 
i.  459. 

Question,  the  territorial,  how  set* 
tied,  i.  335. 

Quibian,  Cacique  of  Veragua,  in- 
terview with  Bartholomew  Co 
lumbus,  ii.  394;  second  inter- 
view, ib. ;  determines  on  pre- 
venting the  Spaniards  from 
obtaining  a  settlement  in  his 
territories,  ii.  396  ;  conspires  to 
burn  their  houses  and  murder 
them,  ii.  402  ;  is  seized  by  the 
Adelantado  with  his  wives  and 
children,  ii,  406;  escapes  in  a 
very  extraordinary  manner,  ii. 
407  ;  attacks  the  Spaniards  and 
is  defeated,  ii.  412. 

Quinsai,  Marco  Polo's  account  of 

iii.  396. 

Quintanilla,  Alonzo  de,  receives, 
Columbus  into  his  house,  i.  80 


R. 

Rabida,  La,  convent  of,  Columbui 
is  entertained  at,  on  his  first 
arrival  in  Spain,  i.  104;  pres- 
ent state,  i.  295. 

Reeds,  river  of,  i.  407. 

 ,  immense,  seen  on  tbt 

Mosquito  coast,  ii.  367. 


630 


INDEX, 


Reinier,  King  of  Naples,  Colum- 
bus engages  in  his  service,  i. 
19 

Religion  of  the  natives  of  Hayti, 
i.  418. 

liepartimientos,  origin  of,  ii,  241 ; 
opposition  of  Don  Diego  Colum- 
bus to  the,  iii.  352. 

Requelme,  Pedro,  makes  his 
house  the  headquarters  of  the 
rebels  at  Ilispanioia,  ii.  220 ; 
made^  Alcalde  by  Roldan,  ii. 
243  ;  joins  in  a  conspiracy  with 
Adrian  de  Moxica,  ii.  260 ;  is 
taken,  ii.  266. 

Rewards  and  punishments,  ideas 
of  the  Haytiens  in  respect  to, 
i.  424. 

Rio  Verde,  or  the  green  river,  i. 
407. 

Road,  the  first  constructed  by 
Europeans  in  the  New  World, 
i.  403. 

Rodriguez,  Sebastian,  takes  a  let- 
ter from  the  prior  Perez  to  the 
queen,  i.  107. 

Roldan,  Francisco,  history  and 
character  of,  ii.  179  ;  an  account 
of  his  conspiracy,  ib. ;  takes 
possession  of  Xaragua,  ii.  213 ; 
his  conduct  in  respect  to  the 
ships  sent  forward  by  Colum- 
bus, ih,  ;  promises  to  repair  to 
St.  Domingo  on  the  arrival  of 
Columbus,  ii.  216 ;  his  inter- 
view with  Ballester,  ii.  220  ; 
rejects  an  offer  of  pardon,  ii. 
221;  demands  his  discharge,  ii. 
229 ;  his  interview  with  Cara- 
vajal,  &c.,  ii.  231;  determines 
on  going  to  the  Admiral,  ii. 
235 ;  correspondence  with  the 
Admiral,  ii.  233;  sends  proposi- 
tions by  Caravajal,  ii.  235 ; 
which  are  accepted,  ib.  ;  cir- 
cumstances prevent  their  being 
acted  upon,  ii.  238;  makes  a 
second  arrangement  with  the 
admiral,  ii.  237  ;  is  permitted  to 
resume  his  office  of  Alcalde- 
mayor,  ib.  ;  receives  a  grant  of 
lands,  ii.  242  ;  visits  his  lands, 
li.  243  ;  assumes  new  authority, 
ib  ;  is  sent  to  meet  Alonzo  de 
Ojeda,  ii  249 ;  his  manoeuvres 
with  him,  ii.  254-259;  his  ri- 
ralsbip  with  Guevara,  ii.  262 ; 


seizes  him  in  the  dwelling  ol 
Anacaona,  ii.  264 ;  treated  witlj 
confidence  by  Bobadilla,  ii.  299 ; 
his  conduct  investigated  bv 
Ovando,  ii.  351;  sails  for  Spain 
and  is  lost  in  a  violent  hurri- 
cane, ii.  357. 
Roman,  Friar,  his  account  of  the 
natives  of  Hispaniola,  i.  416. 


S. 

Sabellicus,  his  account  of  the 
capture  of  the  Venetian  galleys, 
iii.  328. 

Saint  Michael,  bay  of,  discovered^ 
iii.  174. 

Salamanca,  the  learned  assemble 
at,  to  consider  the  proposition 
of  Columbus,  i.  84  ;  pronounce 
the  plan  to  be  vain  and  impos- 
sible, i.  102. 

Salcedo,  Diego  de,  arrives  at  Ja- 
maica with  succors  from  Ovan- 
do, ii.  519. 

Salvador,  St.,  discovery  of,  i.  168 ; 
awe  and  surprise  of  the  natives 
on  first  beholding  the  ships 
of  Columbus,  i.  169 ;  descrip- 
tion of  them,  i.  170;  gold  first 
discovered  in  this  island,  i. 
173. 

Samana,  Gulf  of,  discovered,  i. 
263. 

San  Rafael,  discovery  of,  i.  495. 

San  Sebastian,  settled  by  Ojeda, 
iii.  91 ;  conduct  of  the  natives 
at,  iii.  92 ;  ambuscade  of  the 
Indians,  ti>. ;  tigers,  panthers, 
and  large  venomous  serpents 
found  at,  iii.  91 ;  arrival  of  Tal- 
avera  at,  iii.  96;  faction  in  the 
colony,  iii.  99 ;  Pizarro  first 
lieutenant  of,  iii.  100. 

Sanchez,  Juan,  takes  charge  of 
Quibian,  ii.  407  ;  who  escapes^ 
ii.  408 ;  killed  in  battle  by  ch% 
Adelantado,  iii.  417. 

Sande,  Don  Ruy  de,  his  mission 
to  the  Spanish  court,  i.  322. 

Santa  Marta,  island  of,  discovered 
i.  461. 

Santa,  La  Isla,  discovery  ii 
121. 

Santa  Cruz,  island  of  disuoTerj 
of,  i.  352 


INDEX. 


631 


Banta  Gloria  (St.  Ann's  Bay),  dis- 
covered by  Columbus,  i.  452. 

Santa  Maria,  seat  of  government 
established  at,  iii.  145 ;  faction 
at,  iii.  146. 

Santiago.  See  Jamaica ;  letter  of 
Ileneken,  i.  404. 

—  ■  ,  river  of,  discovered,  i. 
258. 

Saoraeta,  discovery  of,  i.  183. 

8aona,  island  of,  discovered,  i. 
494 ;  difference  of  longitude  be- 
tween, and  Cadiz,  i.  495. 

Scandinavians,  an  essay  relative 
to  the  voyages  of,  iii.  356. 

Schedel,  remarks  on  an  interpola- 
tion in  his  chronicle,  iii.  430. 

Sea  wolves,  killed,  iii.  329. 

Seneca,  his  notice  of  electrical 
lights  on  the  masts  of  ships,  i. 
342. 

Serafin  Point,  i.  468. 

Sharks,  a  multitude  of,  seen  on 
the  coast  of  Veragua,  ii.  390 ; 
curious  method  of  taking  them, 
ii.  391 ;  sufierstition  concern- 
ing, ib. 

Ships,  observations  relative  to 
the  size  of  those  employed  by 
Columbus,  iii.  364. 

  transported    in  pieces 

across  the  mountains  at  the 
Isthmus,  iii.  230. 

Slaves,  five  hundred  are  sent  to 
Spain,  ii.  38 ;  three  hundred 
sent  by  Bartholomew  Colum- 
bus, ii.  154 ;  arrival  in  Spain, 
ii.  63  ;  Queen  Isabella  interests 
herself  in  their  favor,  ib.  ;  or- 
ders them  to  be  sent  back  to 
Ilayti,  ii.  64;  negroes  first  in- 
troduced to  the  New  World, 
ii.  329;  revolt  of,  iii.  303;  His- 
paniola  the  first  island  to  ex- 
hibit an  awful  retribution,  ib.  ; 
regulations  in  respect  to,  iii. 
304. 

Slaves,  one  hundred  captured  and 
sent  to  Hispaniola,  iii.  71. 

Solomon,  the  gold  used  in  the 
temple  of,  ii.  77. 

?oria,  Juan  de,  his  insolence  to 
Columbus,  i.  333. 

Sosa,  sent  to  supersede  Pedrarias 
Davila,  iii.  272;  dies  in  the  har- 
bor, iii.  274. 

Rotomayor,  ChvistovaJ  de,  arrives 


from  Spain  at  Porto  Rico,  iii 
310  ;  builds  a  fortress,  ib. ;  Co 
lumbus  refuses  to  put  him  iy 
possession,  appoints  Ceron  anq 
Diaz  lieutenants,  ib.  ;  a  con- 
spiracy formed  against  him  by 
the  natives,  iii.  314  ;  revealed 
to  him  by  an  Indian  princess, 
iii.  315 ;  he  refuses  to  believe  it, 
is  attacked  in  the  forest  and 
killed,  iii.  317 

 ,  village  of,  destroyed, 

iii.  318. 

Soul,  ideas  of  the  Haytiens  in  re- 
spect to  the,  i.  424  ;  the  after 
state  of,  believed  by  the  natives 
of  Cuba,  i.  484. 

Spain  and  Portugal,  diplomatic 
negotiations  between  the  courts 
of,  with  respect  to  the  new  dis« 
coveries,  i.  322. 

Spotorno,  Gio,  publishes  docu- 
ments relative  to  Columbus,  ii 
347. 

Sugar-cane  introduced  into  Hayti, 
i.  431. 

Sun,  supposed  to  be  worshipped 
by  the  Indians,  iii.  216. 

Superstition  of  St.  Elmo  lights 
i.  342. 

Swallow,  a,  encircles  the  ships  of 
Columbus,  i.  341. 


T. 

Talavera,  Fernando  de,  prior  of 
Prado  and  confessor  to  Queen 
Isabella,  i.  98  ;  esteems  Colum- 
bus's plan  impossible,  i.  102 ; 
he  is  desired  by  the  king  to 
assemble  men  of  science  to  con- 
sider the  matter,  ib. ;  reports 
to  the  king  that  the  council 
had  pronounced  the  plan  vain 
and  impossible,  ib  ;  takes  a 
message  from  the  king,  i.  103 ; 
disgusted  at  the  high  termi 
insisted  on  by  Columbus,  i. 
113. 

Talavero,  Bernardino,  pirates  the 
ship  of  a  Genoese,  iii.  97  ;  char- 
acter of  his  crew,  ib. ;  arrives  at 
San  Sebastian  in  time  to  saT€ 
the  colony,  ib.  ;  returns  to  His- 
paniola, iii.  100;  puts  Ojeda  in 
irons,  iii.  101 ;  is  hanged  by  th« 


632 


INDEX, 


order  of  Don  Diego  Columbus, 
iii.  112. 

Taxmar,  Cacique  of  Yucatan,  iii. 
289  ;  his  treatment  of  the  Span- 
iards, iii.  290  :  vessels  appear  off 
the  coast  294. 

TenerifTe,  fears  of  tlie  crew  at  be- 
holding Mount,  i.  137. 

Territory,  question  of,  how  set- 
tled, i.  335. 

Thomas,  St.,  fortress  of,  erected,  i. 
410  ;  see  note,  411 ;  conduct  of 
the  colonists  there,  i.  432 ;  at- 
tacks of,  ii.  18. 

Tigers  and  panthers  at  San  Sebas- 
tian, iii.  91. 

Tobacco,  first  seen  in  the  island 
of  Cuba,  i.  202. 

Tobago,  discovery  of,  ii.  137 

Toledo,  archbishop  of,  his  charac- 
ter, i.  80  ;  gives  Columbus  an 
attentive  hearing,  i.  81 ;  and 
procures  him  an  audience  of  the 
king,  i.  81. 

Toledo,  Dona  Maria  de,  Don  Diego 
Columbus  becomes  enamored 
of,  iii.  347 ;  their  marriage,  iii. 
348 ;  and  embarkation  for  His- 
paniola,  iii.  349  ;  is  left  as  vice- 
queen  at  St.  Domingo  on  the 
sailing  of  Don  Diego  for  Spain, 
iii.  354;  becomes  a  widow,  iii. 
361. 

Torre,  Dona  Juan  a  de  la,  receives 
a  letter  from  Columbus  with  an 
account  of  his  treatment,  ii. 
306. 

Torres,  Antonio  de,  dispatched 
from  Hispaniola,  with  twelve 
ships,  to  Spain,  i.  390  ;  arrives 
at  Cadiz,  ii.  60  ;  dismissed  from 
office,  ii.  106. 

 ,  Luis  de,  sent  up  the  isl- 
and of  Cuba  by  Columbus,  i. 
197  ,  an  account  of  his  journey, 
i.  200. 

Tortoises,  sea  covered  with,  on  the 
southern  coast  of  Cuba,  i.  474  ; 
curious  method  of  taking,  i. 
462  ;  a  living  one  taken  out  of 
the  maw  of  a  shark,  ii.  391. 

Tortugas,  beautiful  island  of,  dis- 
covery of,  i.  223,  iii.  329. 

Toscanelli,  Paulo,  his  correspon- 
dence with  Columbus,  i.  54. 

Trade  of  the  colonies  monopolized 
by  the  crown  of  Spain,  ii.  327  ; 


'  the  Spanish  system  tl  e  scoff  of 
modern  times,  ib. 

Trasierra,  Juan  de,  ii.  292. 

Triaha,  Rodrigo  de,  first  sees  the 
land  of  the  western  world,  i. 
165 ;  account  of,  i.  306. 

Tribute  imposed  upon  the  Ilayti- 
ens,  ii.  48. 

Trinidad,  island  of,  discovered,  ii, 
119 ;  description  of  its  appear- 
ance, i6. ;  curious  accouut  of 
the  natives,  ii.  122. 

Tristan,  Diego,  ii.  410 ;  is  killed, 
ii.  414. 

Tubanami,  Cacique,  his  appeal  to 
Nunez,  iii.  220;  refuses  to  dis 
close  where  the  mines  lie,  iii 
220. 

Tudela,  Benjamin,  travels  of,  i. 
59. 

Tumaco,  Cacique,  encounter  with 
Nunez,  iii.  208. 

Turk's  Island,  observations  rela- 
tive to,  iii.  448. 


U. 

Uraba,  gulf  of,  settlement  at  com- 
menced, iii.  79. 

Ursula,  Santa,  island  of,  dis- 
covered, i.  354. 


Y. 

Valdivia,  fortunes  of,  iii.  287; 
sent  to  Hispaniola  for  provis- 
ions, iii.  171. 

Valenzuela,  vessel  of,  founders  at 
sea,  iii.  137. 

Valfermosa,  coast  of,  discovered, 
iii.  59. 

"Vassals,  natives  of  Hispaniola  re- 
duced to  the  condition  of,  ii. 
241. 

Vega,  Garcilaso  de  la,  his  tale 
relative  to  a  pilot  having  died  in 
the  house  of  Columbus,  iii 
424. 

 ,  river,  i.  407 ;  calleu  by  th« 

natives  Yagui,  ih. 
Velasco,  Francisco,  ii.  292 
Velasquez,  Diego,  (Jommands  tht 

soldiery   at  the  massacre  of 

Xaragua,  ii.  496. 


INDEX 


633 


Venezuela,  gulf  of,  discovered,  iii. 
30. 

Veragua,  coast  of,  discovery  of,  ii. 
377  ;  warlike  spirit  of  the  in- 
habitants, ib.  ;  soil  appears  to 
be  impregnated  with  gold,  ii. 
398  ;  Gioiden  Castile,  iii.  350. 

Veraguas,  duke  of,  consents  to 
have  the  remains  of  Columbus 
removed  to  Cuba,  iii.  342. 

— — • ,  the  heirship  to  Columbus 
decided  in  his  favor,  hi.  365. 

Verde,  Cape  de,  discovery  of,  i.  30. 

Vergara  forages  for  supplies,  iii. 
60 ;  caravel  dispatched  in  search 
of,  iii.  62. 

Vespucci,  Amerigo,  first  notice  of 
his  expedition, ii.  252;  employed 
by  Columbus  at  court,  ii.  537 ; 
accompanies  Ojeda,  iii.  23 ;  his 
description  of  the  aborigines, 
iii.  24;  his  account  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Curacoa,  iii.  29; 
an  account  of,  iii.  395  ;  a  sum- 
mary view  of  his  claim  to  the 
title  of  a  discoverer,  iii.  397  ; 
the  voyage  whence  his  name 
was  given  to  the  American  con- 
tinent, iii.  401  ;  Columbus's 
letter  to  his  son  relative  to  the 
merit  and  misfortunes  of,  iii. 
403  ;  Peter  Martyr's  character 
of,  iii.  416 ;  his  letter  to  Rene, 
duke  of  Lorraine,  iii.  406 ,  ob- 
servations relative  to  the  points 
in  controversy,  ih. ;  author's 
conclusion,  that  the  voyage  as- 
serted to  have  been  made  by 
Amerigo  Vespucci  never  took 
place,  iii.  416. 

Vessel,  stern-post  of  a,  found  in 
one  of  the  houses  at  Guada- 
i6£ipe,  i.  346. 

Vieja  La,  or  Old  Woman's  group, 
discovered,  iii.  329  ;  sibyl  of,  ib. 

Villains,  natives  of  Hispaniola 
reduced  to  the  condition  of,  ii. 
241. 

Villejo,  Alonzo  de,  appointed  to 
carry  Columbus  to  Spain,  ii. 
802 ;  character  of,  ib.  ;  his  col- 
loquy with  Columbus  previous 
to  their  sailing,  ii.  303. 

Vines  introduced  into  Hayti,  i. 
431. 

Vinland,  a  supposed  discovery,  iii. 


Vipers,  rocks  of,  iii.  287. 
Virgin,  dances  of  the  Indians  ii 

honor  of,  iii.  107;  anecdotes  o* 

Cueybas,  ib. 
Virgins,  the    eleven  thousand 

islands  of,  discovered,  i.  354. 
Vows  made  by  Ojtida,  iii.  104. 

 made  by  Erisiso,  iii.  144. 

 made  in  a  storm  by  Col  .im 

bus  and  hia  crew,  i.  269, 

tempt  at  fulfilment,  i.  275. 


W. 

Waterspout,  a  remarkable,  seef 
on  the  coast  of  Veragua,  ii 
389. 

Wax,  cake  of,  presented  to  the 
sovereign  by  Columbus,  i.  212. 

Wheat  introduced  into  Hayti,  i 
431. 

Wolves,  sea,  several  killed  on  th* 
coast  of  Hispaniola,  i.  493. 

Woman,  account  of  a  very  strong, 
of  Guadaloupe,  ii.  83 ;  taken  to 
Columbus's  «Mp,  ii.  84 ;  falls  in 
love  with  otionabo,  and  refuses 
to  return  on  shore,  ii.  84. 

Women,  ongin  of,'  according  to 
the  Haytiens,  i.  421. 

Writing,  fear  of  the  J^diians  of 
Cariari  at  seeing  th»»  Spaniards 
write,  ii.  371. 


X. 

Xagua,  gulf  of,  i.  466 

Xaragua,  domain  of,  an  account 
of,  ii.  10 ;  description  of  its  in- 
habitants, ib.  ;  Ro^an  takci 
possession  of,  ii.  213 :  massacre 
at,  ii.  492. 

Xerif  al  Edrizi,  his  des<iription  of 
the  Atlantic,  i.  10. 

Ximenes,  cardinal,  iii.  S56;  pro- 
hibits licenses  to  import  slave! 
from  Africa  to  the  coi«^ies,  iii. 
419,  420. 

Y. 

Yanique,  river  of,  i.  410 
Yuca,  groves  of,  frui*  in  Ml 
308. 


634 


INDEX, 


Z. 

Zamaco,  Cacique  of  Darien,  iii. 
144;  lays  in  ambush,  attacks 
the  Spaniards,  iii.  163;  strata- 
gem of,  iii.  175;  waylays  the 
Spaniards,  iii.  179;  plot  of  to 
destroy  Barien,  ib. ;  is  surprised 
by  Nunez,  iii.  180. 

Eamudio,  advocates  Nunez  at 
court,  iii.  225. 

Irftmes,  inferior  deities  of  the 
Haytiens,  i.  417. 


Zeno,  Nicole,  ah  account  cf  hii 
claim  to  the  first  discovery  oJ 
the  American  continent,  iii 
435. 

Zenu,  mountains  and  rivers  oL 

contain   gold,  iii.  138 ;  gold 

taken  in  nets  at,  ib. 
Zipanga  (Japan),  Marco  Polo^f 

account  of,  iii.  492. 
Zones,  the,  observations  relaUvi 

to,  iii.  497. 


